• by Wayne Friedman , October 1, 2008

Television's good news, according to Magna, IPG's media research and consulting group, is that overall television usage is higher for the first week of the new season. The bad news is that the broadcast networks' piece of this continues to slide.

Homes Using Television (HUTs) are 3% higher than a year ago among 18-49 viewers and overall viewers. But the five broadcast networks' collective ratings among 18-49 viewers were down 3% in live-plus-same-day DVR playback ratings to a 13.1 rating, respectively. The broadcast networks were also down 3% in overall viewer ratings from a year ago.

In contrast to the same week a year ago, ABC, CBS and NBC nosed down. ABC was off 3% to a 3.8 rating among 18-49 viewers, CBS sank 9% to a 3.1 rating, and NBC was off 15%--most notably losing ground with its new show "Knight Rider" and returning show "Heroes."

On the plus side, Fox was 11% higher to a 3.0, thanks in large part to its new show "Fringe"--although experts were expecting even better results. CW had the best improvement of all networks, soaring 18% among 18-49 viewers to a 1.3 rating.

Ad-supported cable had another positive story to tell during the first week of the new broadcast season. It showed a 12% rating gain among 18-49 viewers to a collective 17.3 number. Cable also moved up 14% to a collective 18.3 rating among all viewers.

Among young viewers 18-34, all broadcast networks were also down against last year: 2% to an 11 rating. The biggest gainer was the CW--"Gossip Girl," "90210" and other premieres helped its live-plus-same-day ratings climb 25% to a 1.5 rating. Fox was also up 7% to a 2.9 number among 18-34 viewers.

Cable networks did less well among 18-34 viewers than they did with older demos. Cable gained 8% to a 15.6 collective rating. Overall, 18-34 usage of television showed a 1% gain in live-plus-same-day ratings.