NEW YORK (Apr 2, 1996 4:39 p.m. EST) -- ABC topped the past week's prime-time television ratings with its Academy Awards broadcast, ending the three-week reign by NBC with its strong Thursday night line-up.
ABC, a unit of Walt Disney Co., led the other major networks xin the week ended Sunday with a 11.8 rating and a 20 share, according to Nielsen Media Research.
General Electric Co.'s NBC was a close second, with an 11.5 rating and a 19 share, while CBS placed third with a 9.4 rating and a 16 share. News Corp.'s Fox had a 6.6 rating and an 11 share.
Each rating point represents 959,000 homes and share refers to the percentage of TV sets tuned to a specific network.
The Academy Awards, which aired Monday on ABC, took the top spot of the week. ABC's "Barbara Walters Special," which aired an interview with Oscar nominee Richard Dreyfus before the awards show, was ranked at No. 6. The network's "Home Improvement" situation comedy finished at No. 10.
NBC had five shows in the top 10, down from six last week. "E.R.," "Seinfeld," "Friends" and "Caroline in the City" rounded out the top five, while "Boston Common" came in at No. 7.
CBS's Sunday news magazine "60 Minutes" was No. 8 with a broadcast on possible jury tampering in the O.J. Simpson murder trial and an interview with New York radio personality Don Imus.
The Westinghouse Corp. unit's broadcast on Saturday of the NCAA basketball semi-final championship game, University of Massachusetts vs Kentucky, finished at No. 9. Kentucky beat Syracuse to win the title on Sunday.
Fox's highest-rated show, "X-Files," finished at No. 36.
Among the two newest networks, Time Warner Inc.'s WB network finished the week with a 2.9 rating and a 5 share, while the UPN venture of Chris-Craft Industries Inc. and Viacom Inc. had a 2.8 rating and 4 share.
In season-to-date ratings, NBC leads with a 11.8 rating and a 19 share, followed by ABC with a 10.9 rating and an 18 share. CBS is third with a 9.7 rating and a 16 share, while Fox comes in fourth with a 7.5 rating and a 12 share.
UPN has a season-to-date rating of 3.2 and a 5 share, while WB has a 2.5 rating and a 4 share.