USA hangs on to top cable spot

August 25, 2009 For the week ending Aug. 23, USA drew 1.52 million adults 25-54, outpacing ESPN's 1.31 million, while drawing 1.28 million viewers 18-49, edging the sports net by some 19,000 viewers. In what is likely to be one of USA's final ratings victories of 2009 -- ESPN puts up garish deliveries with its "Monday Night Football" franchise, which returns for its 40th season Sept. 14 -- the network averaged 3.42 million total viewers in prime time, per Nielsen live-plus-same-day ratings data. The NBC Universal property accounted for four of the top 10 most-watched programs on ad-supported cable, drawing its largest audience of the week with "WWE Raw."

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