• Media Life, Thursday, March 1, 2007 11:01 AM

During a month when prime-time viewership for big cable networks like ESPN, MTV, TNT and FX was down, the tiny niche channels showed the greatest year-to-year gains. For instance, History International was up 141%, while Military Channel rose 69%, ESPN Classic jumped 106% and Golf Channel increased 59%. While they all have small audiences -- mostly fewer than 150,000 households -- these narrowly focused niche channels are seeing gains their bigger counterparts aren't.

Higher distribution is one driver of growth, with ESPN Classic and History International adding more than 7 million households each over the last year. Another reason is better, more relevant programming. It's no coincidence that some big networks like Discovery are parents to these smaller ones, like History International and Military Channel. The crossover can prove invaluable.

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