NBA TV saw the biggest month-over-month gains in U.S. TV homes among all cable nets from January to February. The league-owned net is in 59.2 million homes for the month, up 6% from 55.8 million last month. NFL Network ranked in the top five in month-over-month gains, up 1.9% to 59.2 million homes. Nickelodeon and Nick-At-Nite top the list of all nets with 100.2 million homes. While that is down from the same period last year, the nets are the only U.S. cable nets in more than 100 million homes. ESPN ranks 10th overall for February, the same spot it held in January. Listed below are the top 10 cable nets in U.S. household distribution, along with data for nets with sports content.
| FEBRUARY CABLE TV NETWORK DISTRIBUTION |
| NETWORK | '06
(000) | '07
(000) | '08
(000) | '09
(000) | '10
(000) | '11
(000) | '12
(000) |
| Nickelodeon | 89,714 | 92,010 | 96,333 | 98,454 | 99,720 | 100,400 | 100,202 |
| Nick-At-Nite | 89,714 | 92,010 | 96,333 | 98,454 | 99,720 | 100,400 | 100,202 |
| Weather Channel | 89,698 | 92,220 | 96,506 | 98,824 | 99,896 | 100,668 | 99,889 |
| TBS | 89,645 | 91,734 | 97,307 | 99,029 | 100,265 | 101,033 | 99,816 |
| Food Network | 88,305 | 91,207 | 95,655 | 97,997 | 98,532 | 100,195 | 99,510 |
| Discovery Channel | 90,446 | 92,540 | 96,794 | 98,753 | 99,865 | 100,653 | 99,488 |
| USA Network | 89,929 | 92,077 | 96,350 | 98,393 | 97,557 | 100,121 | 99,169 |
| CNN | 90,119 | 92,307 | 96,384 | 98,383 | 99,390 | 100,186 | 99,076 |
| TNT | 89,983 | 92,207 | 96,357 | 98,061 | 99,275 | 100,407 | 99,005 |
| ESPN | 90,280 | 92,389 | 96,515 | 98,089 | 99,211 | 100,002 | 98,979 |
| ESPN2 | 89,540 | 91,868 | 96,161 | 97,713 | 98,828 | 99,904 | 98,862 |
| FX | 88,136 | 90,617 | 94,551 | 95,266 | 96,105 | 96,047 | 97,964 |
| Golf Channel | 67,930 | 74,676 | 74,588 | 81,235 | 83,370 | 83,509 | 84,656 |
| Speed | 65,059 | 69,768 | 71,989 | 73,317 | 75,082 | 77,932 | 79,360 |
| NBC Sports Network | 63,173 | 71,697 | 72,417 | 74,163 | 63,995 | 75,715 | 76,296 |
| ESPNews | 46,261 | 54,866 | 63,059 | 67,951 | 71,921 | 73,454 | 74,244 |
| ESPNU | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 72,550 | 72,548 |
| MLB Network | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 55,316 | 67,933 |
| NFL Network | n/a | 40,150 | 43,133 | 41,705 | 55,623 | 56,895 | 59,237 |
| NBA TV | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 54,808 | 59,152 |
| Fox Soccer | n/a | n/a | n/a | 34,316 | 36,094 | 38,616 | 40,895 |
| Fuel TV | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 36,546 |
| ESPN Classic | 58,881 | 64,856 | 62,621 | 63,311 | 58,643 | 37,649 | 32,612 |
| | | | | | | | |
NOTES: Figures not available for nets that do not subscribe to regular Nielsen ratings, including NHL Network, Universal Sports, Tennis Channel, Fox College Sports, Big Ten Network, Longhorn Network and CBS Sports Network.
