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SBD/January 16, 2013/Research and Ratings

NBC Sports Network Heads Into NHL Season In 77.9 Million U.S. TV Households

By Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor

NBC Sports Network heads into the start of the long-delayed NHL season in 77.9 million U.S TV homes, compared to 75.0 million homes at the start of last season (October ’11). Another Comcast-owned network -- Golf Channel -- began the PGA Tour season earlier this month in just under 84 million homes, down slight from 84.6 million homes at the start of last season. ESPN and ESPN2 are in around 98.5 million homes in January, down from the same period last year. Only one network on all of cable TV -- Weather Channel -- is in over 100 million homes. January marks the first time since August that any cable net has passed the 100 million-home mark. Listed below are the top 10 cable nets in terms of viewership for January, with comparisons to previous years. Also listed are figures for networks with significant sports programming.

JANUARY CABLE NETWORK DISTRIBUTION
NETWORK	'06 (000)	'07 (000)	'08 (000)	'09 (000)	'10 (000)	'11 (000)	'12 (000)	'13 (000)
Weather Channel	89,510	91,989	96,645	98,796	99,866	100,569	100,046	100,093
TBS	89,506	91,714	97,417	99,014	100,100	100,951	99,983	99,669
Food Network	88,017	91,136	95,773	97,918	99,202	100,096	99,602	99,656
Nickelodeon/ Nick-at-Nite	89,508	91,940	96,454	98,429	99,564	100,309	99,581	99,373
Discovery Channel	90,279	92,544	96,889	98,747	99,750	100,474	99,660	99,230
USA Network	89,709	92,051	96,465	98,368	99,077	99,950	99,373	99,179
CNN	89,909	92,273	96,528	98,343	99,219	100,029	99,253	99,081
Cartoon Network/ Adult Swim	88,562	91,076	95,766	97,701	98,244	99,340	98,995	98,993
AMC	87,237	89,969	94,094	94,497	95,196	96,409	96,431	98,957
A&E	89,326	91,774	96,286	97,979	98,816	99,760	99,090	98,885
ESPN	90,111	92,337	96,679	98,092	99,016	99,792	99,113	98,569
ESPN2	89,315	91,812	96,285	97,696	98,713	99,699	99,045	98,534
Spike	89,558	91,654	96,076	97,817	98,671	99,397	98,798	97,974
FX	87,896	90,414	94,636	95,194	95,859	95,825	98,182	97,958
Golf Channel	67,797	74,319	75,232	81,246	82,013	83,343	84,577	83,962
Speed	64,206	69,530	72,319	73,273	74,865	77,548	79,157	81,080
NBC Sports Net	63,402	71,419	72,789	73,801	63,809	75,360	76,227	77,888
ESPNews	45,748	54,326	63,015	67,982	71,344	73,210	74,160	74,801
ESPNU	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	72,338	72,658	74,071
MLB Network	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	54,872	68,241	70,377
NFL Network	n/a	39,692	43,171	41,908	55,411	56,696	58,125	69,668
NBA TV	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	54,181	55,810	60,697
Fox Soccer	n/a	n/a	n/a	34,576	35,823	38,472	40,929	42,324
Outdoor Channel	25,739	29,922	30,453	29,534	34,463	34,433	35,922	38,726
Fuel TV	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	36,571	37,649
ESPN Classic	58,408	64,398	62,835	63,355	59,539	38,535	32,822	31,504
Sportsman Channel	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	31,438

NOTES: Figures not available for nets that do not subscribe to regular Nielsen ratings, including Pac-12 Network, Big Ten Network, CBS Sports Network, Fox College Sports, Longhorn Network, NHL Network, Tennis Channel and Universal Sports.