The Emmys can’t tackle football

Despite its smallest audience since 1990, the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards telecast was still television’s second most-watched program of the week, Nielsen Media Research reported Tuesday.

The three-hour, 14-minute ceremony, broadcast by Fox from the Shrine Auditorium in L.A. Sunday, averaged 12.95 million viewers, the fewest since the 1990 ceremony, which drew 12.3 million (also on Fox).

Viewership dropped 20% from the 2006 telecast, which aired on NBC.

The decline appears at least in part because the Emmys had to compete for the first time with a National Football League game telecast on a competing network.

NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” matchup between the New England Patriots and San Diego Chargers opposite the Emmys was the most-watched program between Sept. 10 and Sunday, averaging 15.32 million viewers.

In addition, viewership for award shows has generally dropped in recent years because the proliferation of such telecasts makes each one less unique.

And like all forms of TV programming, award shows are affected by growing competition from new networks, cable TV, the Internet and home video.

With six of the week’s 10 most-watched prime-time programs on broadcast television, CBS was the most-watched network for the 14th time in the 16 weeks of television’s summer season, averaging 7.07 million viewers.

Fox was second with 6.54 million, followed by NBC and ABC.

ESPN’s season-opening “Monday Night Football” game between the Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals on Sept. 10 was the week’s most-watched program on cable TV. It averaged 11.08 million viewers, which would have put it fifth among the week’s programs on the broadcast networks.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Sept. 10-16) as compiled by Nielsen Media Research. They are based on the average number of people who watched a program from start to finish. Nielsen estimates there are 286 million potential viewers in the U.S. ages 2 and older. Viewership is listed in millions.

*--* -- Program Network Viewers 1 Sunday Night Football NBC 15.32 2 “Emmy Awards” FOX 12.95 3 60 Minutes CBS 11.54 4 Sunday Night NFL Pre-Game NBC 11.09 5 Two and a Half Men (Mon.) CBS 9.95

6 Without a Trace CBS 9.47 7 Big Brother 8 (Thu.) CBS 8.89 8 CSI: NY CBS 8.86 9 Football Night in America, Part 3 NBC 8.59 10 CSI CBS 8.42

11 CSI: Miami CBS 8.30 12 Criminal Minds CBS 8.18 13 Big Brother 8 (Tue.) CBS 8.09 14 Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (Thu.) FOX 7.87 15 Biggest Loser 4 NBC 7.84

16 House FOX 7.83 17 Power of Ten (Wed.) CBS 7.77 18 NCIS CBS 7.69 19 Rules of Engagement CBS 7.52 20 Cold Case CBS 7.30

21 Saturday Night Football ABC 7.10 22 Big Brother 8 (Sun.) CBS 7.08 23 Power of Ten (Tue.) CBS 6.94 24 Just for Laughs ABC 6.85 25 Shark CBS 6.66

26 20/20 ABC 6.63 27 Just for Laughs (Tue.) ABC 6.60 28 Last Comic Standing 5 (9 p.m.) NBC 6.46 29 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ABC 6.45 30 Law & Order: SVU (Tue.) NBC 6.41

31 “ Countdown 2: Emmys ‘07” FOX 6.33 32 Dateline: NBC (Wed.) NBC 6.08 33 48 Hours Mystery CBS 5.90 34 Old Christine CBS 5.78 35 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 5.72

36 Just for Laughs (Wed., 9:30 p.m.) ABC 5.71 37 Primetime: Crime ABC 5.65 38 Just for Laughs (Wed., 9:30 p.m.) ABC 5.54 39 Destilando Amor (Thu.) UNI 5.53 40 America’s Funniest Home Videos (Fri.) ABC 5.48

41 Bones (Tue.) FOX 5.46 42 Destilando Amor (Mon.) UNI 5.43 43 Wife Swap ABC 5.42 44 Dateline: NBC (Mon.) NBC 5.41 45 Destilando Amor (Wed.) UNI 5.35

46 How I Met Your Mother CBS 5.30 47 Numb3rs CBS 5.21 48 America’s Most Wanted FOX 5.13 49 Don’t Forget the Lyrics (9:30 p.m.) FOX 5.09 -- Destilando Amor (Tue.) UNI 5.09

51 Football Night in America, Part 2 NBC 5.05 52 Destilando Amor (Fri.) UNI 5.04 53 My Name Is Earl NBC 5.03 54 Cops (8 p.m.) FOX 5.01 55 Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (Fri.) FOX 4.99

56 “College Football Pre-Game” ABC 4.85 57 Fat March ABC 4.78 58 Law & Order: SVU (Fri.) NBC 4.76 59 Bones (Wed.) FOX 4.63 60 “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” ABC 4.62

61 Friday Night Smackdown CW 4.35 62 According to Jim (8:30 p.m.) ABC 4.25 63 Grey’s Anatomy ABC 4.17 64 According to Jim (8 p.m.) ABC 4.12 65 1 vs. 100 NBC 4.10

66 Prison Break (9 p.m.) FOX 4.09 67 Two and a Half Men (Fri.) CBS 4.07 68 30 Rock NBC 3.97 -- Ugly Betty ABC 3.97 70 Most Outrageous Moments NBC 3.95

71 “CBS Fall Preview” CBS 3.94 72 Las Vegas NBC 3.90 73 Til Death (8:30 p.m.) FOX 3.86 -- Last Comic Standing (8 p.m.) NBC 3.86 75 Don’t Forget the Lyrics (9:20 p.m.) FOX 3.85

76 The Office NBC 3.84 77 Aqui y Ahora UNI 3.80 78 Supernanny ABC 3.77 79 Familia P. Luche UNI 3.65 80 i-Caught ABC 3.63

81 Men in Trees ABC 3.60 82 Cristina UNI 3.58 83 Til Death (8 p.m.) FOX 3.57 -- Law & Order: Criminal Intent NBC 3.57 85 Thank God You’re Here NBC 3.32

86 Prison Break (8 p.m.) FOX 3.28 87 E.R. NBC 3.25 88 Don Francisco Presenta UNI 3.15 89 Jericho CBS 3.02 90 Medium NBC 3.01

91 Amar Sin Limites (Mon.) UNI 2.91 92 Yo Amo Juan Querendon (Tue.) UNI 2.90 -- Yo Amo Juan Querendon (Mon.) UNI 2.90 94 Amar Sin Limites (Tue.) UNI 2.88 -- Rumbo al Mundial TEL 2.88

-- Amar Sin Limites (Thu.) UNI 2.88 97 Heroes NBC 2.82 98 Amar Sin Limites (Wed.) UNI 2.80 99 Nashville FOX 2.68 100 NASCAR In Primetime ABC 2.68

101 Amar Sin Limites (Fri.) UNI 2.67 102 Familia de Diez UNI 2.61 103 Yo Amo Juan Querendon (Thu.) UNI 2.47 104 “Countdown 1: The Emmys” FOX 2.37 105 Yo Amo Juan Querendon (Wed.) UNI 2.36

106 Smallville (Thu.) CW 2.33 107 Yo Amo Juan Querendon (Fri.) UNI 2.32 108 Supernatural CW 2.29 109 Crimetime Saturday CBS 2.26 110 America’s Top Model 1 (9 p.m.) CW 2.24

111 SOS: Sexo y Otros Secretos UNI 2.22 112 Sabado Gigante UNI 2.18 113 Everybody Hates Chris (8 p.m.) CW 2.08 114 Everybody Hates Chris (8:30 p.m.) CW 2.03 115 Hora Pico UNI 1.84

116 The Game CW 1.82 117 Buscando Timbiriche UNI 1.81 -- Girlfriends CW 1.81 119 America’s Top Model 1 (8 p.m.) CW 1.74 120 “Celebrando El Grito” (Sun.) TEL 1.52

121 Smallville (Sun.) CW 1.47 122 Gilmore Girls CW 1.38 -- Madre Luna (Tue.) TEL 1.38 *--*