NFL gains yardage for ESPN
Cablers see double-digit rate hike in primetime
ESPN led 13 other cable networks into Nielsen nirvana, i.e., double-digit increases in primetime for the year, including three among the top 10: TNT (No. 2, up 13%), Fox News (No. 8, up 20%) and TLC (tied for tenth, up 11%). ESPN was up 15% in households, 20% among adults 25-54 and 24% among adults 18-49.
TNT also won bragging rights by narrowly coming in first in primetime with adults 18-49 (by a scant 2,000 over USA) and with adults 25-54 (by only 52,000 over Lifetime and 53,000 over USA).
Preventing the National League Football from sweeping the top 10 in primetime for the year was the MTV "Video Music Awards," which finished seventh overall with 7.06 million homes on Aug. 29.
The only movie to crack the year's top 30 among cable households was TBS original "Atomic Twister," which gathered up 5.15 million on June 9.
MTV's "The Osbournes" ended up the only non-sports series to show up among the top 30 for the year in cable households, placing individual episodes 21st, 24th and 28th .
The two highest-rated theatrical movies -- the only ones to show up among the top-100 cable programs for 2002 -- were TNT's "The Mummy" (4.28 million households on Jan. 4, No. 38 overall) and TBS' "Wild Wild West" (4.13 million homes on Feb. 10, No. 43 overall).
Double-digit underachievers in primetime among the top-10 cable networks for 2002 were TBS (No. 7, down 12%) and two that tied for tenth place: A&E and Discovery, each of which slipped by 17%.
The eight other cable networks that rose by double digits in primetime for the year, in order of their Nielsen ranking, are: MTV (up 13%), Sci Fi Channel (up 13%), Court TV (up 14%), ABC Family (up 14%), FX (up 14%), TV Land (up 14%), HGTV (up 17%), Food Network (up 20%) and Hallmark Channel (up 25%).
In addition to TBS, A&E and Discovery, 12 other networks plunged by double digits year to year in the primetime Nielsen ratings. They are, in rank order: CNN (down 10%), TNN (down 10%), History Channel (down 11%), AMC (down 13%), Comedy Central (down 14%) and Soap Net (down 29%).
Also: WGN Superstation (down 17%), MSNBC (down 33%), Bravo (down 25%), Travel Channel (down 25%), CNBC (down 50%) and CNN Headline News (down 33%).
