-By Anthony Crupi

Fox News Channel’s coverage of the second presidential debate paved the way for the network’s second prime-time ratings win in a little more than a month, as an average nightly audience of 3.44 million viewers tuned in during the week ended Oct. 12.

According to Nielsen Media Research data, FNC last week locked up four of the week’s top 10 most-watched programs on ad-supported cable, a run that included the Oct. 7 town hall clash between Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain. Between roughly 9 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. last Tuesday night, FNC delivered 8.77 million viewers with its debate coverage, 87 percent of which (7.65 million) would stick around for a special installment of On the Record with Greta Van Sustern.

The ratings victory marked the second time in five weeks that FNC beat out the rest of the cable field. The news net delivered an average 4.19 million viewers during the week ended Sept. 7, thanks in large part to its presentation of the Republican National Convention.

The race for the White House also gave FNC a big lift among the core news demo, as the net averaged 921,000 adults 25-54, good for fourth place on the week. Moreover, FNC took sixth among the 18-49 set, averaging 721,000 members of the demo.

The American League Championship Series helped steer TBS into second place, as the Turner net averaged 3.33 million total viewers last week. While TBS slipped from its first-place perch, the net laid claim to all three key demos, averaging 1.6 million viewers 18-49, 1.56 million adults 25-54 and 777,000 18-34s.

On Oct. 10, TBS served up 6.69 million viewers with Game One of the ALCS, a 2-0 pitcher’s duel won by the defending World Series champion Boston Red Sox. The next night, 6.09 million fans tuned in to see Tampa Bay even the series at 1-1, as B.J. Upton’s 11th-inning shallow fly sent Fernando Perez sprinting home for a 9-8 Rays win.

The series notched some solid demo numbers as well, as Game One averaged 3.08 million adults 25-54 and 3.03 million viewers 18-49, while Game Two drew 2.92 million 25-54s and 2.71 million 18-49s.

Repeats of House and a new Monday night WWE Raw showcase landed USA Network the number-three spot in prime (2.83 million viewers). USA took second among the two younger demos, averaging 1.32 million 18-49s and 629,000 18-34s, while claiming third on the week among adults 25-54 (1.3 million).

Fourth place went to ESPN, which averaged 2.64 million viewers. As has been the case since the NFL kicked off the 2008 season, the sports net secured the top program delivery with Monday Night Football, as an NFC battle between the New Orleans Saints and Minnesota Vikings drew just under 11 million viewers. The game swept the demos as well, averaging 6.11 18-49s, 6 million 25-54s and 3.04 million 18-34s.

Closing out the top five was CNN, which actually out-delivered rival FNC with its 9.23 million debate viewers. The news net averaged 2.39 million total viewers on the week, en route to taking fourth place among 18-49s (912,000) and 25-54s (957,000).  CNN also engineered a rare top 10 win among 18-34s, securing ninth place with 346,000 members of the younger set.

CNN also out-stripped FNC with its debate demo performance, averaging 4.46 million 18-49s and 4.37 million 25-54s. The second Obama-McCain meeting also gave CNN the fourth most-watched program among the younger demo, as 2.03 million 18-34s tuned in.

A special edition of Anderson Cooper 360 retained approximately 83 percent of its audience in the 10:30-11 p.m. time slot Tuesday night. Of the 7.63 million viewers who watched Cooper’s post-debate analysis, 3.78 million fell into the 18-49 demo, while 3.72 million were members of the traditional news demo.