Sports telecasts accounted for 32 of the top 100 most-viewed programs on cable TV during the month of October, including eight of the top 10. Despite the slow start for ESPN's "MNF," the five games that fell during the Nielsen-measured period last month ranked among the six most-viewed programs on cable TV, while TBS had 14 MLB postseason games rank among the top 100. The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series had two races among the 15 most-viewed sports telecasts last month, led by the race from Talladega Superspeedway on Oct. 23. The Oct. 15 Michigan-Michigan State game on ESPN was the most-viewed college football telecast on cable TV for the month with 4.8 million viewers, despite airing in the 12:00pm ET slot. With no preseason games due to the lockout, NBA TV's most-viewed telecast during the month was a replay of the '93 Bulls-Knicks Eastern Conference Finals Game Four, which earned 114,000 viewers on Oct. 25.
| MOST-VIEWED CABLE TV SPORTS TELECASTS DURING OCTOBER '11 |
| DATE | PROGRAM | NET | VIEWERS (000) |
| 9/26 | "Monday Night Football": Redskins-Cowboys | ESPN | 17,104 |
| 10/10 | "Monday Night Football": Bears-Lions | ESPN | 16,378 |
| 10/17 | "Monday Night Football": Dolphins-Jets | ESPN | 12,062 |
| 10/3 | "Monday Night Football": Colts-Buccaneers | ESPN | 10,837 |
| 10/6 | ALDS: Tigers-Yankees: Game Five | TBS | 9,720 |
| 10/24 | "Monday Night Football": Ravens-Jaguars | ESPN | 9,275 |
| 10/7 | NLDS: Cardinals-Phillies: Game Five | TBS | 8,389 |
| 10/4 | ALDS: Tigers-Yankees: Game Four | TBS | 7,012 |
| 10/3 | ALDS: Tigers-Yankees: Game Three | TBS | 6,046 |
| 10/16 | NLCS: Cardinals-Brewers: Game Six | TBS | 5,938 |
| 10/13 | NLCS: Cardinals-Brewers: Game Four | TBS | 5,650 |
| 10/14 | NLCS: Cardinals-Brewers: Game Five | TBS | 5,461 |
| 9/30 | ALDS: Tigers-Yankees: Game One | TBS | 5,461 |
| 10/23 | NASCAR Sprint Cup:
Good Sam Club 500 (Talladega) | ESPN | 5,430 |
| 10/30 | NASCAR Sprint Cup:
Tums Fast Pain Relief 500 (Martinsville) | ESPN | 4,923 |
| | | | |
NOTE: Measurement period for this year was from Sept. 26-Oct. 30.
