Home Box Office enjoyed a stellar ratings weekend with the June 22 season
premiere of Sex and the City and a June 21 live World Championship
Boxing match.
The opening episode of the sixth and, most likely, final season of Sex
generated a 15.1 household rating within the premium channel's universe,
nearly matching the 15.2 of last season's premiere episode. Overall, eight
episodes comprising the fifth season averaged a 14.4 rating, according to the
network.
One day earlier, the network's Lennox Lewis-Vitali Klitschko
heavyweight-championship fight garnered a 13.4 rating, the highest mark for a
boxing match since the 1999 Oscar de la Hoya-Oba Carr bout registered a 14.6
rating.
Lewis retained his heavyweight belt after the fight was stopped in the sixth
round due to a severe cut over Klitschko's left eye.
"This demonstrates that the heavyweight championship of the world is
big-event programming," HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg said in a prepared
statement.
