USA's Lesson: The Big Networks Matter Less and Less

When you think NBC, you think Law & Order, Jay Leno and maybe some Bravo reality show weep-a-thon. But when the moneymen at GE, think about the network’s portfolio, they smile and linger on scruffy USA.

The down-market channel, according to Jeff Gaspin, president and COO of NBCU’s cable entertainment group, “is the single biggest asset that we currently have at this company."

USA and the SciFi channel contributed a juicy $1 billion to NBC Universal bottom line last year, feeding viewers a mix of Monk, L&O reruns and professional wrestling.

It’s come from a major renovation done by Bonnie Hammer, who has ridden her success to increasingly bigger jobs at NBCU.

The AP says:

"USA averaged more than 3.2 million prime-time viewers during the first three months of 2009, more than any other cable network in history and even more than the fifth broadcast network, the CW, according to Nielsen Media Research."

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