• January 5, 2003

Football – both professional and college – dominated Nielsen Media Research’s top 15 cable programs for the week ended Dec. 29. ESPN had the week’s top six shows, with Nickelodeon following with six top-15 programs. TNN had two and Lifetime had one. Sunday night’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers/Chicago Bears game had a 5.5 rating, with 5.8 million households. The Alamo, Holiday, Independence and Insight.com bowls also scored well. TNN’s WWE Raw Zone on Monday night was the highest-rated regularly scheduled program, with a 2.8 rating and 3.12million households. In the pay cable world, two episodes of Sex and the City and three episodes of Sopranos were the highest rated and all on Sunday night. The 8:30 p.m. Sex and the City had the highest rating, a 2.5, with 2.6 million households. The fifth-rated program, the 11 p.m. showing of The Sopranos, garnered a 2 rating with 2.1 million homes.