ABC - ESPN'S MNF SETS CABLE RATINGS RECORD

ESPN'S MNF SETS CABLE RATINGS RECORD

Monday Night Football's telecast of the Minnesota Vikings/Green Bay Packers game attracted 21.84 million viewers -- the biggest audience for any telecast in the history of cable television, according to Nielsen Research. The ESPN telecast also beat out every program on broadcast television. The only thing close was ABC's Dancing with the Stars, which drew 17.8 million. The game had attracted mountains of publicity inasmuch as it featured Vikings quarterback Brett Favre in action against his former team, the Packers, for the first time. (The Vikings won 38-23.) The previous ratings record for an ESPN telecast was set last year when the Philadelphia Eagles/Dallas Cowboys game drew 18.6 million viewers.

07/10/2009