President Trump's ramped-up schedule of campaign rallies in support of Republican candidates has prompted major cable news networks to drop their live coverage, even at Fox News, which had to choose between covering Trump or allowing its regular, higher-rated programs to air.

MSNBC, CNN and Fox News still play newsworthy clips from the rallies when they happen. But even Fox News, which stood out from its competitors as the last network to carry Trump's lengthy rallies live, has resumed regular programming in the lead up to the midterm elections.

Both MSNBC and CNN appeared to make editorial decisions far earlier on in Trump’s presidency that for their audiences, his rallies no longer superseded regular programming in terms of news value. But for Fox News, the answer is less clear.

A Politico story on Wednesday suggested it may be a ratings issue, and reported that at least one of Trump’s rallies, which often take place in prime-time TV hours, drew fewer viewers in host Tucker Carlson’s 8 p.m. time slot.

“[O]n Aug. 30, Fox News’ 8 p.m. hour was mostly consumed by Trump’s rally in Evansville, Ind., earning 2.536 million viewers, according to Nielsen, compared to the 2.8 million viewers Carlson averaged at that time during 2018’s third quarter," the story said.

A spokesperson for Fox News declined to comment for this article.

[Related: Trump plans to charge ahead with campaign rally as Hurricane Michael batters Florida Panhandle]

Matt Lewis, a conservative commentator and CNN contributor, told the Washington Examiner that it may also be a matter of Trump’s rallies simply being less of a novelty than they were during the 2016 campaign, when they were like nothing any other politician was doing and often meant breaking news.

“I think the big danger for Trump has always been that, after a few years, people would become desensitized to him,” said Lewis. “That he would eventually become boring.”

One producer at MSNBC said it was likely a matter of keeping prime-time programming on schedule, rather than turning it over to Trump. In just the last week, Trump hosted four rallies, all of which started between 5:30 p.m. and 7:45 p.m., and which tend to last roughly an hour each.

“It would blow out their prime-time shows and marquee hosts” if Trump were carried each time he had a rally, the producer said.

The producer did note, however, that Fox saw a ratings boost due to interest in the controversial nomination process of now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a subject still in the news, and that Fox News may have made the decision to continue covering that issue rather than Trump’s campaigning.

Plus, the producer said, “Tucker doesn’t want to cede his hour to someone else.”