Article online since: 2010-06-09 00:36:41
Written by: Reuters
The return of USA Network's original drama series "Burn Notice" and "Royal Pains" helped return the channel to the top of the latest cable-ratings heap.
According to Nielsen Live+SD (same day) ratings for the week ending Sunday, USA delivered an average primetime audience of 3.5 million viewers.
The Season 4 premiere of "Burn Notice" scared up 6.6 million viewers Thursday. Lead-out "Royal Pains" began its sophomore run in front of 5.8 million viewers.
"In Plain Sight," the third original series on USA's spring schedule, drew 3.5 million viewers in its 10 p.m. Wednesday slot.
In second place for the week was Fox News Channel, which edged Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite by about 4,000 viewers. The news network averaged 1.9 million total viewers in primetime.
Nick/Nick at Night boasted the week's most-watched program on ad-supported cable, as the one-hour "iCarly" movie "iPsycho" drew 7.5 million viewers at 8 p.m. Friday.
Now that the NBA playoffs have advanced to the finals (and ABC), TNT dropped significantly, averaging 1.8 million viewers. The network drew its biggest crowd of the week with its first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race of the year, averaging 5.1 million viewers Sunday afternoon, down 8% compared with the year-ago 5.5 million total viewers.
Closing out the top five was A&E, which averaged 1.6 million viewers in primetime. Among the week's biggest draws was the MTV Movie Awards, which captured 4.6 million viewers Sunday night, down 13% compared with last year's 5.3 million viewers.
