HispanicBusiness

ABC's weekly hospital drama, "Grey's Anatomy," surpassed fellow network juggernaut "Dancing with the Stars" last week as the most-viewed English-language program among Hispanics, according to figures released by the Nielsen Media Group for the week of Oct. 1-7.

"Grey's Anatomy" drew a 6.9 rating to lead all other programs while "Dancing with the Stars" and NBC's "Sunday Night Football" were close behind. The celebrity dance competition mustered a 6.5 and NBC scored a 6.4 with its broadcast of the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers in NFL action.

ABC's "Ugly Betty" made a rare top-five appearance, producing a 5.3 mark that was good enough for fourth place. A two-way tie rounded out the top five with NBC's "Heroes" and ABC's "Desperate Housewives" each posting a 4.9.

In the Spanish-language division, Univision's nightly telenovela "Destilando Amor" held the top spot in the ratings for the 11th week in a row. Its five-night average rating of 24.1 topped all other programs. The Wednesday night broadcast attracted more than 3.1 million Hispanic households for a 25.9 rating, which was the highest among all other individual Spanish-language broadcasts for the week.

Univision's "Don Francisco Presenta," a weekly variety show on Univision, was second with a 21.4 mark, while Cristina Saralegui's weekly talk show, "Cristina," rounded out the top three with an 18.6.

Nielsen's figures, however, have their detractors. One group has started a petition, hoping Nielsen Media Group will change the way it samples the U.S. Hispanic population in its English and Spanish TV ratings. The Help Change TV group, which has a petition at www.HelpChangeTV.com, claims that Nielsen does not include enough U.S.-born Hispanics in its audience sample, leading to the impression that a vast majority of Hispanics watch Spanish-language TV.

The following lists are TV ratings based on Hispanic viewership. Nielsen's ratings include viewers who watched the program while it aired and others who viewed the shows via digital video recorder within 24 hours of their airing. The group says that the Hispanic TV audience represents more than 11.63 million television households in the United States. The rating is equivalent to the percentage of households or persons watching a TV program during the average minute.

Top 10 English-language shows (Oct. 1-7)
1. Grey's Anatomy (ABC), 6.9
2. Dancing with the Stars – Monday (ABC), 6.5
3. Sunday Night Football (NBC), 6.4
4. Ugly Betty (ABC), 5.3
5. Heroes (NBC), 4.9
5. Desperate Housewives (ABC), 4.9
7. House (Fox), 4.5
8. CSI: New York (CBS), 4.4
8. Family Guy (Fox), 4.4
10. Dancing with the Stars – Tuesday (ABC), 4.3

Top 10 Spanish-language shows (Oct. 1-7)
1. Destilando Amor – five-night avg. (Univision), 24.1
2. Don Francisco Presenta (Univision), 21.4
3. Cristina (Univision), 18.6
4. Aqui y Ahora (Univision), 18.3
5. Familia P. Luche (Univision), 16.8
6. Retro P. Luche (Univision), 14.6
7. Amar Sin Limites – five-night average (Univision), 13.0
8. S.O.S. Sexo y Otros Secretos (Univision), 12.0
9. Yo Amo Juan Querendon – five-night average (Univision), 11.5
10. Sabado Gigante (Univision), 11.3