The NBA playoffs lured a slew of 18-49s to cable during the week of Apr 26-May 2, allowing TNT to lead the industry in viewership among the demo (Live+SD) during the  period. 2 games on the net averaged 2.90mln while heading the top 10, while another garnered 2.25mln in taking 7th. A playoff tilt on ESPN earned 2.72mln to notch 3rd, and was followed by Comedy Central’s “South Park” (2.69mln) and a pair of WWE hours on USA that averaged 2.50mln. Completing the top 10 were MTV’s “The Hills” (2.17mln), History’s “Pawn Stars” (2.08mln) and Discovery Channel’s “Deadliest Catch” (2.05). (Data provided by Nielsen)

04/26/2010-05/02/2010
TOTAL-04/26/2010
RANK TELECASTS EPISODE TITLE ORIG DAY(S) S TIME R DUR P18-49 P18-49 P18-49
Live+SD US AA% Live+SD US SHR Live+SD AA(000)
1 NBA PLAYOFFS-04/27/2010 THUNDER/LAKERS TNT .T….. 10:50 PM 155 2.2 8 2924
2 NBA PLAYOFFS-05/01/2010 CELTICS/CAVALIERS TNT …..S. 8:04 PM 166 2.2 8 2870
3 NBA PLAYOFFS-1ST RD L-04/30/2010 LAKERS/THUNDER ESPN ….F.. 9:43 PM 162 2.1 7 2717
4 SOUTH PARK-04/28/2010 SOUTHPARK 1407 CMDY ..W…. 10:00 PM 30 2 6 2691
5 WWE ENTERTAINMENT-04/26/2010 WWE RAW USA M…… 10:00 PM 63 1.9 6 2539
6 WWE ENTERTAINMENT-04/26/2010 WWE RAW USA M…… 9:00 PM 60 1.9 5 2461
7 NBA PLAYOFFS-04/27/2010 BULLS/CAVALIERS TNT .T….. 8:05 PM 165 1.7 5 2247
8 HILLS, THE SSN 6-04/27/2010 601 MTV .T….. 10:00 PM 33 1.6 4 2169
9 PAWN STARS-05/02/2010 LICENSE TO PAWN HIST ……S 8:30 PM 30 1.6 4 2079
10 DEADLIEST CATCH-04/27/2010 SEA TESTED DISC .T….. 9:00 PM 61 1.6 4 2048

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Friday–March 20

What’s Next? Dissecting Nexstar-Tegna’s Closing, Legal Challenges

While Nexstar says its $6.2 billion deal with Tegna has closed, there is still the matter of eight state attorneys general and DirecTV suing to block the deal. On Friday, the coalition of states filed a motion for a temporary restraining order that would prevent any integration and consolidation of Nexstar and Tegna.

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