High School Musical 2 Helps Disney Jeer USA
Zac Efron by Lester Cohen/WireImage.com
Whatever they're paying Zac Efron, it isn't enough. In 2007, for the first time ever, the commercial-free Disney Channel beat out every ad-supported cable network in prime-time viewership. Granted, it only won by a mouse whisker - its average of 2.694 million total viewers was just 15,000 more than runner-up USA Network - but still, it won. Not coincidentally, the premiere of
High School Musical 2 earned bragging rights as the No. 1 cablecast of all time.
Elsewhere in the year-end wrap-up, TNT came in third, albeit down seven percent, and No. 4 ESPN slipped 11 percent. Among the cablers on the upswing were Bravo, MSNBC (up an impressive 32 percent), A&E (up 20 percent), Discovery Channel, Court TV, TLC and VH1 (gaining 19 percent, not all of which can be attributed to the masses that have made out with Tila Tequila... right?). -
Ben Katner
