TBS is in 99.4 million U.S. homes in October as the MLB postseason begins, with the net set to air all Wild Card games, LDS games and the ALCS, as well as any potential regular-season tiebreaker games. TBS ranks second among all cable networks in distribution, behind only The Weather Channel. ESPN and ESPN2 are both in just over 98 million homes, the lowest October mark for the nets since '08. Speed is in 80.8 million homes this month, as speculation continues that the network will be rebranded Fox Sports One and turned into an all-sports network.
Listed below is U.S. distribution for the top 10 cable TV networks for the month of October, with comparisons to previous years. Also listed are figures for networks with significant sports content.
| October U.S. Cable TV Network Distribution (Millions of Homes) |
| NETWORK | '06 | '07 | '08 | '09 | '10 | '11 | '12 |
| The Weather Channel | 91,744 | 96,410 | 98,366 | 99,966 | 100,805 | 99,897 | 99,578 |
| TBS | 91,462 | 96,059 | 98,655 | 100,158 | 101,226 | 99,796 | 99,375 |
| Food Network | 90,813 | 95,575 | 97,543 | 99,305 | 100,404 | 99,391 | 99,108 |
| Nickelodeon/Nick-at-Nite | 91,660 | 96,360 | 98,103 | 99,648 | 100,577 | 99,358 | 98,944 |
| Discovery Channel | 92,253 | 96,926 | 98,318 | 99,902 | 100,690 | 99,603 | 98,907 |
| USA Network | 91,784 | 96,402 | 97,970 | 99,338 | 100,172 | 99,177 | 98,726 |
| Cartoon Network/Adult Swim | 90,851 | 95,640 | 97,208 | 98,316 | 99,390 | 98,721 | 98,570 |
| CNN | 92,044 | 96,554 | 97,945 | 99,430 | 100,237 | 99,081 | 98,555 |
| Lifetime | 91,808 | 96,412 | 97,621 | 98,876 | 99,928 | 98,752 | 98,451 |
| TNT | 91,906 | 96,400 | 97,716 | 99,308 | 100,215 | 99,011 | 98,430 |
| A&E | 91,583 | 96,205 | 97,556 | 99,022 | 99,935 | 98,882 | 98,423 |
| ESPN | 92,235 | 96,566 | 97,742 | 99,088 | 99,960 | 98,648 | 98,179 |
| ESPN2 | 91,686 | 96,243 | 97,348 | 98,824 | 99,931 | 98,470 | 98,126 |
| Spike TV | 91,634 | 96,065 | 97,416 | 98,815 | 99,602 | 98,545 | 97,752 |
| FX | 89,991 | 94,513 | 94,853 | 96,198 | 96,877 | 97,996 | 97,553 |
| Golf Channel | 69,363 | 76,798 | 82,000 | 81,631 | 83,368 | 82,934 | 83,944 |
| Speed | 68,161 | 72,916 | 73,293 | 74,184 | 77,091 | 77,394 | 80,782 |
| NBC Sports Network | 70,684 | 74,020 | 73,546 | 63,379 | 74,707 | 74,989 | 78,068 |
| ESPNews | 51,712 | 62,152 | 67,375 | 69,841 | 74,248 | 73,264 | 74,319 |
| ESPNU | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 73,689 | 71,948 | 73,258 |
| MLB Network | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 55,819 | 67,220 | 69,811 |
| NFL Network | n/a | 43,942 | 41,916 | 50,334 | 57,299 | 56,550 | 62,093 |
| NBA TV | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 54,400 | 59,845 |
| Fox Soccer | n/a | n/a | 34,317 | 34,767 | 38,449 | 38,844 | 41,504 |
| Outdoor Channel | 28,229 | 30,852 | 29,587 | 31,373 | 35,501 | 34,238 | 37,921 |
| Fuel TV | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 31,750 | 35,943 |
| ESPN Classic | 62,132 | 63,187 | 63,194 | 63,871 | 40,848 | 32,648 | 31,219 |
| Sportsmen Channel | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 30,253 |
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NOTES: Figures not available for nets that do not subscribe to regular Nielsen ratings, including Big Ten Network, CBS Sports Network, Fox College Sports, Longhorn Network, NHL Network, Tennis Channel and Universal Sports.
