Science-Fiction Keeps The Ratings Up At Cable Outlets

USA Network, in a release to advertisers, named itself the top basic cable channel in prime time in all key ratings demographics, making it the network's best performance ever. The network finished 2006 with an average of 2 million households, with 500,000 registering from the 18 to 34 demographic and another 1.2 million from the 18 to 49 age demo.

"The 4400" made waves as one of cable's top five original scripted series of the year among viewers between 25 and 54 at 2 million, and averaging 1.9 million in the 18 to 49 demographic. It joined "Monk," "The Dead Zone" and "Psych" as cable's top scripted series, finishing behind "WWE Monday Night Raw."

SciFi Channel also was boasting of some good news, this time for the fourth quarter of 2006 which the network said was its best outing since 2002 when Steven Spielberg's "Taken" miniseries was on the air.

Although its overall ratings were down, "Battlestar Galactica" has picked up a younger, more female audience while finishing ahead of the second half of Season 2 by 8 percent in adults 18 to 34. The show, which aired the first half of its third season, also saw marked improvement in teenagers (up 15 percent), among women 18 to 34 (20 percent) and among women between 18 and 49 (up 17 percent). In fact, as SciFi Wire reports, the average age of "Battlestar Galactica" viewers dropped a year compared to Season 2, a key move for advertisers.

But it's not "Battlestar Galactica" as the network's ratings winner anymore, it's "Eureka," which held a 3.3 household rating with more than 4 million viewers in its first season.

All of that has allowed SciFi Channel to maintain a 1.0 household rating overall for the fourth consecutive year, a significant mark for a basic cable channel.

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