• by David Kaplan , December 16, 2004

In the twelfth week of the prime-time broadcast season, the battle for ratings is still neck and neck, with cable closing in. In the past week ending last Sunday, broadcast delivered 34.34 household rating points in prime time, while ad-supported cable delivered an aggregate 33.17 household rating, according to Nielsen.

But as the Television Advertising Bureau--which advocates on behalf of local broadcast--noted in its analysis of the past week's ratings, "when this rating is adjusted to eliminate ADS homes, ad-supported cable's delivery drops to 25.64."

CBS finished in first place with an 8.47 household rating, and ABC followed with a 6.98 household rating, while NBC delivered a 6.59 rating and Fox delivered a 4.28 rating.

The top 10 ad-supported cable networks delivered 14.58 household rating points in prime time this past week. The remaining 55 ad-supported cable nets split 18.59 household rating points. The top ad-supported cable nets this week were ESPN, TNT, and Lifetime.

As for programming, broadcast delivered 94 of the top 100 prime-time programs based on household ratings. CBS's "CSI" took first place, with an 18.37 household rating, followed by ABC's "Desperate Housewives," which finished second with a 13.54 household rating. Ad-supported cable's highest-ranking program was ESPN's coverage of the Eagles-Redskins game, which delivered a 6.70 household rating.