Live sports and political content dominated the cable programming landscape for the month of October, pushing TBS and Fox News to the head of the class.
TBS’ postseason Major League Baseball contests and Fox News Channel’s presidential debate coverage propelled the two networks into a first place tie among all cable networks with a 2.7 household rating during the period of Sept. 29 to Oct. 26, according to Disney-ABC Television Group analysis of Nielsen Media Research data.
TBS -- which placed six of its 22 combined Division series and American League Championship series telecasts among cable’s top 25 most-watched shows for the month -- posted a 13% increase over the same period last year. Fox News, owners of seven of the top 25 slots with content surrounding the Barack Obama-John McCain presidential debates, jumped 125% compared to October 2007.
ESPN -- on the strength of four, top 10-rated NFL Monday Night Football telecasts -- finished third with a 2.2 rating, despite being down 8%. The total sports network edged USA’s flat 2.1 rating and Disney Channel’s 2.0 mark, which was down 13% from the comparable period last year.
CNN (1.6 rating , up 167%), Nick At Nite (1.4, up 27%) finished sixth and seventh respectively.
TNT (down 7%), Cartoon Network (up 18%) and MSNBC (up 225%) rounded out the top 10, each with a 1.3 rating..
Sports and political content consumed the top 17 most-watched shows during the month, led by TBS’ Oct. 19 Game 7 coverage of Boston Red Sox-Tampa Bay Rays matchup. The decisive ALCS contest, which propelled the Rays into the World Series against the Philadelphia Phillies, was the most-watched baseball game ever on cable.
Nickelodeon’s Oct. 13 Spongebob Squarepants movie, WhoBob What Pants?, was the most-watched entertainment show, drawing 7.6 million viewers.
On a 24-hour basis, Nickelodeon was tops with a flat 1.6 rating, followed by Fox News and Nick-at-Nite (tied with a 1.3 rating), Disney Channel (1.2 rating) and TBS (1.1 rating).
