ESPN viewership up - we think

TV ratings are a little like political poll numbers - there's almost always something for everybody. Beyond all the spin control, certain trends tend to hold up. Ad Age reports that for the first three quarters of the year, ESPN has posted the biggest viewership gains compared with the same period a year earlier. Keep in mind that viewers were in the key 21-49 demographic. Also keep in mind that in terms of actual cable viewers, the numbers range from 24,000 for Fuse to 2.6 million for USA. By the way, ESPN's average viewership of 797,000 over the first three quarters of the year compared with ABC's 9.41 million (that's for the week of Sept. 11). Both are owned by Disney. Got all that? Here are some highlights:

ESPN +20%
HGTV +17%
USA +16%
Bravo +16%
Hallmark +16%
Disney +16%
E Entertainment +14%
A&E +12%
VH1 +9%
CNBC +9%
Comedy Central +3%

Among the lowlights:

Fox News -30%
CNN -24%
Spike -20%
Nick at Nite -18%
SciFi -16%
Lifetime -16%
TNT -10%