NEW YORK ā Television viewers are ready for some football.
Three college matchups scored among the Nielsen company's four most-watched television programs last week. Only an episode of NBC's āAmerica's Got Talentā broke through.
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The most popular game was ABC's Saturday night telecast where Georgia handed third-ranked Clemson a loss in Charlotte, North Carolina. The other popular matchups paired Notre Dame and Florida State and Ohio State and Minnesota.
It's all a warmup act for pro football, which starts its season this week and promises to dominate live television viewing.
Since it showed two of the three games, ABC was the week's most-watched network in prime time, with an average of 4.4 million viewers. CBS had 2.6 million, NBC had 2.53 million, Fox had 2.49 million, Univision had 1.5 million, Ion Television had 1.1 million and Telemundo had 1 million.
Fox News Channel led the cable networks, averaging 2.59 million viewers in prime time. MSNBC had 1.218 million, ESPN had 1.217 million, HGTV had 1.05 million and TLC had 921,000.
ABC's āWorld News Tonight" led the evening news ratings race with an average of 8.2 million viewers. NBC's āNightly Newsā had 6.9 million and the āCBS Evening Newsā had 5 million.
For the week of Aug. 30-Sept. 5, the 20 most-watched programs in prime time, their networks and viewerships:
1. College Football: Georgia vs. Clemson, ABC, 8.86 million.
2. College Football: Notre Dame vs. Florida State, ABC, 7.75 million.
3. āAmerica's Got Talentā (Tuesday), NBC, 7.19 million.
4. College Football: Ohio State at Minnesota, Fox, 6.3 million.
5. āAmerica's Got Talentā (Wednesday), NBC, 6.1 million.
6. ā60 Minutes,ā CBS, 5.91 million.
7. āTucker Carlson Tonightā (Monday), Fox News, 4.31 million.
8. āBig Brotherā (Thursday), CBS, 4.1 million.
9. āBig Brotherā (Wednesday), CBS, 4.01 million.
10. āTucker Carlson Tonightā (Tuesday), Fox News, 3.85 million.
11. āHannityā (Monday), Fox News, 3.84 million.
12. āNCIS,ā CBS, 3.83 million.
13. āCollege Football Pregameā (Sunday), ABC, 3.82 million.
14. āCMA Summer Jam,ā ABC, 3.68 million.
15. āAmerican Ninja Warrior,ā NBC, 3.67 million.
16. āHannityā (Tuesday), Fox News, 3.62 million.
17. āTucker Carlson Tonightā (Wednesday), Fox News, 3.52 million.
18. āThe $100,000 Pyramid,ā ABC, 3.514 million.
19. āThe Neighborhood,ā CBS, 3.505 million.
20. āHannityā (Wednesday), Fox News, 3.393 million.