• by Fern Siegel , July 2, 2007

Think of it as TeleFutura's David Beckham moment.

Last Thursday night, TeleFutura's New York stations, WFUT Channel 68 and WFTY Channel 67, were No. 1 in prime time in the key male demos -- 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54 -- a first since the network's debut in January 2002.

The victory was thanks to the broadcast of the Copa America (American Cup) soccer match between Argentina and the U.S., which scored big ratings for TeleFutura, a 5-year-old Spanish-language TV network here.

The ratings were not language-specific.

The soccer match was watched by 297,000 total New York TV viewers from 8:30 p.m. to 10:45 p.m. Fully 57,000 New York men aged 18 to 34 watched TeleFutura during prime time on an average quarter hour basis, according to Nielsen Station Index (NSI) Local People Meter (LPM) figures.

Fox TV's WNYW Channel 5 placed second, with 35,000 men aged 18 to 34. Some 128,000 men 18 to 49 watched TeleFutura in prime time that night, almost double the 67,000 who tuned into the CW Network.