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.
