(AP) CBS clobbers rivals with 15 of Top 20 shows
By FRAZIER MOORE
AP Television Writer
NEW YORK
Thanks to football and a slate of robust comedy and drama shows, CBS clobbered its prime-time competition last week.

The network surged with its coverage of the AFC Divisional Playoff game between the Indianapolis Colts and the New England Patriots, which drew nearly 32 million viewers to rank as the week’s most-watched program, according to Nielsen.

CBS claimed an additional 14 of the Top 20 shows on broadcast and cable.

In second place was ESPN’s telecast of the BCS championship game between Florida State and Auburn, seen by more than 25 million viewers.

NBC’s only entry in the Top 20 was its Golden Globe Awards telecast, which ranked third with nearly 21 million viewers.

Overall for the week, CBS won with an average of 15.2 million viewers. It was the biggest ratings week by any network this season.

Runner-up NBC was far behind with 7.2 million, followed by ABC with 5.2 million and Fox with 3.7 million. Univision had 3.0 million, Telemundo had 1.4 million, ION Television had 1.1 million, and the CW had 820,000 viewers.

The week’s top-rated cable networks were ESPN, averaging 4.2 million viewers, followed by USA with 2.3 million, History with 2.2 million, and Disney with 2.0 million.

NBC’s “Nightly News” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 10.7 million viewers. ABC’s “World News” was second with 9.4 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 8.1 million viewers, notching its biggest audience since September 2006.

For the week of Jan. 6-12, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: AFC Divisional Playoffs: Indianapolis at New England, CBS, 31.69 million; BCS Championship: Florida State vs. Auburn, ESPN, 25.57 million; “Golden Globe Awards,” NBC, 20.87 million; “NCIS,” CBS, 20.84 million; “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 20.35 million; “60 Minutes,” CBS, 17.06 million; “Intelligence,” CBS, 16.49 million; NFC Playoff: New Orleans at Seattle (Post-game), Fox, 14.09 million; “The Millers,” CBS, 13.39 million; BCS Studio (8:18 p.m.), ESPN, 12.79 million.

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ABC, Disney and ESPN are owned by The Walt Disney Co. CBS is owned by CBS Corp. CW is a joint venture of Warner Bros. Entertainment and CBS Corp. Fox is owned by 21st Century Fox. NBC, USA and Telemundo are owned by Comcast Corp. ION Television is owned by ION Media Networks. History is owned by A+E Networks.

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Online:

http://www.nielsen.com