• by Wayne Friedman , February 1, 2006

USA Network showed another reason why getting back wrestling is worth multiple body slams against competing cable networks: The month of January.

USA network's prime-time viewership numbers climbed 15 percent to 2.76 million viewers for January's prime time, thanks to strong programming from its two-hour block of "WWE Raw" on Monday, as well as its comedy-detective series "Monk" on Friday night.

"WWE Raw"--listed as two one-hour shows according to Nielsen Media Research from 9 to 11 p.m.--posted the best numbers in cable for the most recent week ending January 29. Both shows averaged 5.6 million viewers. "Monk" also contributed, as the third most-viewed show, grabbing 5.3 million viewers for the week.

The Disney Channel was second to USA in January at 2.55 million viewers. TNT was in third place at 2.34 million--down 10 percent versus the same time period a year before. ESPN grabbed fourth place--up 8 percent from a year ago.

In the adults 18-49 race, USA was tops, averaging 1.3 million viewers. TNT was next at 1.1 million; TBS was third at 1.0 million; ESPN was next at 905,000; and FX was fifth at 793,000.

Some of the established cable news networks took a hit, while smaller and newer news outfits made gains. Fox News lost 7 percent, but still is the overwhelming leader with 1.48 million viewers. CNN fell 17 percent to 724,000 viewers. Both cable networks couldn't compete against last year's big-rated cable news coverage of the Asian tsunami. All this didn't extend to the entire category. MSNBC was up 16 percent to 349,000; Headline News continued its big gains, now up 43 percent to 343,000; CNBC climbed 23 percent to 155,000.