Time Warner Cable blackout having minimal impact on CBS ratings

Time Warner Cable’s blackout of CBS signals, resulting from an ongoing carriage dispute, has had a minimal effect on the network’s ratings, CBS said Monday.

Through the first three nights of the outage, which began Friday, the network’s ratings have been down by about 1%, according to CBS’ estimates.

CBS-owned media outlets went dark for Time Warner Cable customers in several markets, including Los Angeles and New York, affecting about 3.2 million customers, CBS said.

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Because of the small percentage of customers affected and the fact that August is typically one of the lowest months for ratings, the dispute is expected to have a “negligible” financial effect on the company, a CBS spokesman said in an email.

CBS’ reality show “Big Brother” drew about 6.8 million viewers Sunday night and scored a 2.2 rating in the key 18-to-49 demographic, according to preliminary numbers from Nielsen, down about 4% from last week. Mystery series “Unforgettable” fell about 8% from last week’s premiere to a 1.2 rating. A ratings point equals roughly 1.3 million viewers.

NBC easily won Sunday night with the pre-season NFL game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Miami Dolphins. In prime time, the network drew an average 7.96 million viewers and scored a 2.9 rating in the 18-to-49 demographic.

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ryan.faughnder@latimes.com
Twitter: @rfaughnder

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