Ratings: Jackson Tribute Leads BET Awards to All-Time High, Disney Queens Rule, and More

Some recent ratings highlights:

• The Friday premiere of the Disney Channel's Princess Protection Program movie, starring Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez, delivered 8.5 million total viewers, becoming cable's top-rated scripted program of the year-to-date. In its time slot, it bested all comers and nearly doubled runner-up NBC's audience (4.6 mil). Princess is Disney's No. 3 original movie of all time, trailing only High School Musical 2 and Camp Rock.

• On Saturday, Kings (1.54 mil, -400K) and Harper's Island (3.54 mil, -240K) both dipped, while Eli Stone (2.7 mil) gained 200 thou.

• On Sunday, the BET Awards — reformatted to serve as an all-star tribute to the late Michael Jackson — saw a 61 percent increase over its 2008 telecast, delivering a 5.8 rating (versus the program's previous all-time high of 3.7 mil).

• Also on Sunday, Week 2 of NBC's Merlin conjured up 4.27 mil, dropping 20 percent from its premiere.

• On Monday, The Bachelorette (7.96 mil) was up 17 percent week-to-week, NBC repeats fared markedly better than I'm a Celebrity had been doing, and Fox's rebroadcast of the Michael Jackson-themed American Idol performance show drew 4.22 mil.

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