Cable distribution

CNBC, MSNBC Lead Distribution For U.S. Cable Nets Carrying London Olympics

By Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor

Published July 10, 2012

With coverage of the London Games set to begin later this month, CNBC is seeing the most U.S. distribution among nets that will air coverage with 97.5 million homes. MSNBC ranks second with 95.5 million homes, while Bravo has 94.6 million and NBC Sports Network has 78.1 million. ESPN and ESPN2 are in 98.9 and 98.8 million homes in July, respectively. Neither network has been in over 100 million homes since July of last year. MLB Network is in 69.9 million homes this month, marking the third straight month the net has set a new distribution mark. Other cable sports networks seeing record distribution this month are Fox Soccer, Fuel TV, NFL Network and NBA TV.

Listed below are the top 10 cable TV networks in distribution for the month of July, with comparisons to the same month in previous years. Also listed are the figures for various sports cable networks.

JULY CABLE TV NETWORK DISTRIBUTION IN THE U.S.
NETWORK	'06 (000)	'07 (000)	'08 (000)	'09 (000)	'10 (000)	'11 (000)	'12 (000)
The Weather Channel	90,512	93,992	96,310	99,186	100,092	101,065	100,205
TBS	90,491	93,649	96,838	99,324	100,495	101,227	100,025
Nickelodeon/Nick-at-Nite	90,495	93,892	96,072	98,741	100,039	100,699	99,664
Discovery Channel	91,163	94,501	96,345	98,891	100,065	100,891	99,604
Food Network	89,530	93,173	95,552	98,270	99,878	100,639	99,601
USA Network	90,788	93,980	95,980	98,556	99,468	100,480	99,301
Cartoon Network/Adult Swim	89,675	93,241	95,344	97,584	98,828	99,746	99,159
CNN	90,885	94,170	95,910	98,559	99,596	100,413	99,156
A&E	90,410	93,784	95,680	98,156	99,275	100,219	99,012
HLN	90,067	93,491	95,839	98,462	99,587	100,236	98,971
ESPN	91,021	94,239	96,073	98,296	99,539	100,127	98,903
ESPN2	90,530	93,883	95,519	97,878	99,480	100,005	98,806
FX	88,849	92,038	93,188	95,555	96,396	99,369	98,052
Golf Channel	69,008	74,892	74,621	81,051	83,055	83,928	84,436
Speed	67,145	71,211	72,744	73,525	76,447	78,452	81,449
NBC Sports Network	69,504	71,918	72,901	75,271	73,888	76,155	78,063
ESPNews	50,137	59,551	64,432	68,487	73,545	74,316	74,680
ESPNU	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	73,234	73,234
MLB Network	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	54,928	56,439	69,861
NBA TV	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	55,348	59,833
NFL Network	n/a	43,824	39,946	42,214	56,435	56,883	59,499
Fox Soccer	n/a	n/a	n/a	34,396	36,476	39,142	41,442
Fuel TV	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	32,148	37,029
ESPN Classic	61,374	63,290	62,634	63,518	42,042	34,085	31,969

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.