Nielsen figures show the Big 4 and basic cable gained 1% in 2010 as overall viewing continues to rise to a record 34 hours a week. But the fall season has been less kind: Fox is down 15% and ABC is off 5%, offsetting smaller gains by CBS and NBC.
Few cable series outpace broadcast hits, but increasingly the strongest are beating many of their big-network rivals.
"These are eye-popping numbers you didn't see a few years ago," says Jon Marks, senior VP of research at Turner.
Conversely, CNN continued to plummet, down 34%. Hitless VH1 is off 31%, and Hallmark fell 24%. Even top-rated USA is down 4% from a stellar 2009, while Fox News fell 7%.
Read more at USA Today
