CABLE’S MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL BEATS BROADCASTERS

The return of Monday Night Football on ESPN with a doubleheader drew audiences that far surpassed any program on the broadcast networks. The first game, beginning at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time, featuring the New York Giants against the Detroit Lions, averaged 13.73 million viewers. The second game (which didn’t begin until 10:15 p.m.) between the Arizona Cardinals and the San Diego Chargers drew 11.52 million viewers. Both games also ruled among the 18-49 age group. By contrast, the most-watched television show on any of the broadcast networks Monday night was CBS’s Under the Dome, which averaged 6.62 million viewers at 10:00 p.m., about half the viewer count of its football competitor.