• by Wayne Friedman , January 2, 2012

Some cable networks offered up some surprising improvements in 2011 -- and equally surprising declines.

On the upside for the calendar 2011 year were History, FX, Syfy, MTV, and Adult Swim -- each getting 10% or more lift in their overall viewership during prime time. Losing ground were TBS, Nick at Nite, and Lifetime.

History continued to benefit from its slew of reality efforts, including "Pawn Stars" and "American Pickers" -- and now has surged into the best network performer among all A&E Networks -- growing 21% to an average 1.987 million prime-time viewers.

FX has seen continued improved results from "Sons of Anarchy" and rookie show "American Horror Story" -- piling on 20% to 1.532 million prime-time viewers.

NBC Universal's growing cable network channel, Syfy, is up 10% to 1.33 million. Continuing as the No. 1-rated cable network is Syfy's sister channel USA Network, which was flat versus a year ago at 3.165 million prime-time viewers.

Breaking the 1 million viewer barrier was MTV -- on the heels of the "Jersey Shore" and "Teen Mom" franchise -- rocketing up 21% to 1.189 million in prime time. AMC's acclaimed dramas "Breaking Bad" and "The Walking Dead" grew 8% to land just behind MTV at 1.182 million.

Adult Swim provides good results for its late-night young viewers. Overall for the year, the Adult Swim, a Turner Broadcasting network, grew 10% to 1.237 million overall prime-time viewers. But the sister network TBS wasn't so lucky, as some of its comedy-centric programming lost ground, down 10% to 1.614 million prime-time viewers. truTV also slipped -- off 3% to 1.098 million.

Viacom may have complained about kids' ratings in the fourth quarter for Nickelodeon, but its older-skewing Nick at Nite also witnessed some trouble in 2011 -- slipping a big 22% to 1.344 million.

Looking at Nickelodeon itself for its full-day program rating -- more reflective of its kids' programming and kids' and moms' programming -- the channel went down 6% to 2.142 million total day viewers. For the fourth quarter, Nickelodeon was down 18% to 1.843 million total day viewers. Network executives have been scratching their heads over this performance and pointing the finger at Nielsen measurement issues.

Lifetime did not see the upside results of some of the other A&E Networks. It lost 5% to land at 1.107 million prime-time viewers. For A&E network itself, it had a 7% increase to 1.561 million.

Disney-ABC Networks had a mixed performance. Disney Channel grew 3% to 2.647 million, and ABC Family inched up 1% to 1.462 million. Discovery Networks also had a uneven year. Discovery Channel was up 2% 1.288 million; TLC was down 3% to 1.077 million.

Scripps TV networks had Food Network up 3% to 1.177 million and HGTV down 2% to 1.205 million.

The highly scrutinized OWN managed a 1% gain for the year to 255,000, but was down 10% to 219,000 in the fourth quarter. Another women-focused network, Oxygen, was down 11% to 423,000 and off 13% in the fourth quarter to 391,000.

Big networks -- those behind USA Network's leading 3.165 million -- continue to be stong players. Disney Channel's 2.647 million came in at second place, followed by ESPN, down 2% to 2.342 million. TNT was up 1% to 2.232 million, good for another fourth-place finish. History came in with 1.987 million, for fifth place. Fox News, down 7% to 1.883 million, is in sixth place.