With the NHL and NBA Playoffs in full swing, the leagues' respective cable TV partners are seeing year-over-year gains in distribution in May. ESPN enters the month in 100.2 million U.S. TV homes, up slightly from the same period last year. The NBA's other cable TV partner, TNT, is in 100.4 million homes, also up slightly from May '10. Versus is in 76.2 million homes as the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs continue, up 3% from 74.1 million homes. Fuel TV, which recently signaled that it intends to add MMA and motorsports programming in an effort to increase viewership, remains the least-distributed Nielsen-rated network on cable TV with 31.7 million homes. Listed below is U.S. distribution for cable sports networks during the month of May, with comparisons to recent years (THE DAILY).
CABLE SPORTS NETWORKS: U.S. DISTRIBUTION FOR MONTH OF MAY |
| NETWORK |
'11 (000) |
'10 (000) |
'09 (000) |
'08 (000) |
'07 (000) |
'06 (000) |
| ESPN |
100,187 |
99,612 |
98,140 |
96,169 |
93,420 |
90,665 |
| ESPN2 |
100,090 |
99,527 |
97,746 |
95,887 |
93,029 |
90,208 |
| Golf Channel |
83,883 |
83,469 |
80,803 |
74,266 |
74,587 |
68,723 |
| Speed |
78,800 |
75,713 |
73,119 |
72,285 |
70,181 |
66,807 |
| Versus |
76,247 |
74,091 |
75,182 |
72,622 |
71,842 |
69,015 |
| ESPNews |
74,177 |
73,101 |
68,315 |
63,358 |
57,252 |
49,394 |
| ESPNU |
73,021 |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
| NFL Network |
57,127 |
56,316 |
41,999 |
41,237 |
42,225 |
n/a |
| MLB Network |
56,005 |
55,323 |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
| NBA TV |
55,725 |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
| Fox Soccer |
39,046 |
36,503 |
34,727 |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
| ESPN Classic |
35,270 |
55,468 |
63,494 |
62,337 |
64,985 |
61,150 |
| Fuel TV |
31,690 |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
