March Madness will begin its third season on cable TV in a few days. Each of Turner's three networks that will air men's NCAA Tournament games -- TBS, TNT and truTV -- are in fewer homes this March compared to the past two years. TBS is in 99.7 million homes this month, down from 99.9 million last year and 101.1 million in '11. TNT is in 98.8 million, down from 100.6 million in '11, while truTV is in 91.8 million, down from 92.6 million in '11. Fox Sports last week rolled out the company's plans for Speed to be converted to Fox Sports 1. Network execs plan to introduce the new all-sports channel in 90.0 million homes in August, while Speed is currently in 86.2 million homes. Meanwhile, Outdoor Channel (39.1 million homes) has also been in the news, as Kroenke Sports & Entertainment placed a bid for the net that trumped a bid from the parent company of Sportsman Channel (31.7 million homes).

Listed below is U.S. distribution for the top five cable networks in March, with comparisons to recent years. Also listed is distribution for cable nets with significant sports content.

U.S. CABLE NETWORK DISTRIBUTION IN MARCH
NETWORK	'13 (000)	'12 (000)	'11 (000)	'06 (000)
Weather Channel	100,035	99,996	100,858	89,968
Food Network	99,828	99,579	100,390	88,677
TBS	99,666	99,906	101,098	89,908
Discovery Channel	99,491	99,607	100,822	90,694
Nickelodeon/Nick-at-Nite	99,434	100,138	100,535	89,937
TNT	98,831	99,067	100,551	90,265
ESPN	98,516	99,025	100,106	90,466
ESPN2	98,477	98,912	99,971	89,881
Spike	98,042	98,657	99,787	90,002
FX	97,917	98,020	99,619	88,371
truTV	91,806	92,126	92,627	85,015
Speed	86,248	81,943	78,172	65,754
Golf Channel	83,256	84,552	83,556	67,851
NBC Sports Network	78,211	76,280	75,985	63,410
ESPNews	74,907	74,173	73,637	47,490
ESPNU	74,273	72,466	72,555	n/a
MLB Network	70,687	67,729	55,380	n/a
NFL Network	70,436	59,020	56,930	n/a
NBA TV	61,040	58,944	55,270	n/a
Fox Soccer	49,352	40,921	38,641	n/a
Outdoor Channel	39,103	37,138	34,515	26,228
Fuel TV	37,361	36,545	n/a	n/a
Sportsman Channel	31,662	n/a	n/a	n/a
ESPN Classic	31,048	32,594	36,939	59,968
Fox Deportes	19,542	n/a	n/a	n/a

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, ESPN Deportes, beIN Sport, GolTV and Universal Sports.

Print | Tags: Research and Ratings