ESPN wins with football

Impressive National Football League ratings helped ESPN to finish November with a 2.4 average prime time rating, more than one-half of a rating point ahead of its closest competitor, Lifetime Television, according to a Turner Entertainment Research analysis of Nielsen Media Research data.

ESPN's ratings increased 33 percent over last November.

ESPN's Sunday Night Football franchise accounted for the month's four highest-rated shows.

In fact, the only non-ESPN show to rank among November's top 10 cable shows was Nickelodeon's ratings smash, SpongeBob SquarePants.

Lifetime, which posted a 1.8 average in prime time, took the second spot.

Turner Network Television came in third with a 1.7 average.

Nickelodeon and USA Network rounded out the top five, each with 1.6 ratings.