Cable Sports Networks Seeing Growth In U.S. Distribution In February

Sports nets continue to see year-over-year gains in distribution heading into February. ESPN topped 100 million viewers for the first time and is up 0.8% from the same period last year. ESPN2 is up 1.1% from February '10, while ESPNews is up 2.1%. For the first time, Fox Soccer Channel passed ESPN Classic in U.S. distribution, with the soccer-specific channel up 7.0% from February '10. NFL Network holds a slim lead among the league-owned networks with 56.9 million homes. Listed below is U.S. household distribution for all cable sports nets in February '11 (THE DAILY).

NOTE: Distribution not listed for networks that do not subscribe to daily Nielsen Co. ratings, including NHL Network, Universal Sports, CBS College Sports, Tennis Channel and Fox College Sports.