TBS takes Cable top spot

-- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/5/2001

Strong performance in movies and Ripley's Believe It or Not pushed TBS Superstation into the top slot in February prime time Nielsen ratings. According to Nielsen data provided by Discovery Networks, TBS Superstation tied USA Network with a 2.0 for the four weeks between Jan. 29 and Feb. 25.

But TBS topped USA by averaging 1.662 million households, a tad higher than USA's 1.623 million. USA's rating was a 17% drop from the year-ago month, when the network still had World Wrestling Federation programming. TBS' was an 18% jump.

Lifetime, which had been No. 1 in the fourth quarter and again in February, was close behind with a 1.9, a 27% increase driven largely by its original movies. Fox News cleanly won the news wars, posting an 80% increase to 0.9. CNN stayed flat at 0.8.