IS THE DVR REALLY TO BLAME FOR FALLING RATINGS AT 10:00 P.M.?

While network executives have been blaming the DVR for the low ratings of 10:00 p.m. shows in recent years, today’s (Monday) New York Times points out that many cable shows during that hour are thriving. For example, it noted, MTV’s Jersey Shore, which airs at 10:00 p.m. on Thursdays, averages about six million viewers in the 18-49 demo every week. In fact, the newspaper observes, of the 15 top-rated cable shows on cable television last week, eight played in the 10:00 p.m. hour. And the TV show that won the Emmy Award for best drama last season was AMC’s Mad Men, which airs at 10:00 p.m. Nancy Dubuc, president of the History Channel, attributed the success of cable in that hour to its willingness to take risks. “Media savvy” younger viewers, she told the newspaper, are responding less and less to the standard offerings that the broadcast networks offer at that period. They are, she asserted, essentially “giving the viewers the same choices over and over again.”