August 16, 2012

Summer Winner—USA on Top Again, Despite Ratings Declines

USA is the overall gold medal winner, and we’re not talking about the Olympics. We mean those other summer games. With less than 2 weeks left, USA is poised to take the #1 spot in prime among ad-supported cable nets for the 7th consecutive summer by a healthy margin in 18-49s, 18-34s and total viewers. CableFAX will delve further into how everyone fared in the coming weeks, but given USA’s crown (it’s also been #1 in total viewers and 18-49s for the past 6 years), we’re giving USA svp, research Ted Linhart a moment in the spotlight. Read his thoughts on Nielsen, ratings declines and more in today’s issue.

Also in the August 16 issue of CableFAX Daily:

Congress lost a telecom/cable veteran Wed and as a result, the chairmanship on the powerful House Commerce Oversight subcmte is up for grabs.

Pivotal Research Group revised expectations for ad-supported media down to 1.4% growth vs 2.3% previously, citing 2Q trends.

Univision CEO Randy Falco sent a letter Wed to the Commission on Presidential Debates expressing his disappointment that none of the debates feature Hispanic moderators—specifically Univision’s Jorge Ramos and Maria Elena Salinas.