USA is cable ratings leader; disney No. 2
By Anne Becker -- Broadcasting & Cable, 4/6/2008 8:00:00 PM EDT
USA Network topped the first quarter (Dec. 31, 2007, through March 30, 2008) cable ratings with 2.89 million total viewers in prime, according to Nielsen Media Research. The network was also No. 1 in the 18-49 demo with 1.27 million —the seventh consecutive quarter it claimed that spot, which is a first in basic cable history.
Disney took second in prime for the quarter with 2.46 million total viewers. TNT ranked third with 2.11 million, followed by TBS with 1.99 million, Fox News with 1.81 million, Nick at Nite with 1.74 million, A&E with 1.45 million, Lifetime with 1.41 million, FX with 1.40 million and ESPN with 1.38 million.
Showtime premiered season two of its Tudors to 768,000 viewers at 9 p.m. March 30—down 12% from its season-one premiere when it was at 10 p.m., but up 65% from season one's finale. With a rerun at 11 p.m., the show drew a combined audience of 1.02 million viewers, according to Nielsen.
Meanwhile, on HBO that night, John Adams pulled in 2.2 million viewers for its fourth of seven installments on Sunday, up from 2.1 million last week. Lifetime Movie Network broke its own record ratings Sunday with the first half of its The Capture of the Green River Killer mini and followed that up Monday night with 12% audience growth for part two, drawing 2.4 million viewers.
