TV Ratings: 'Doctor Who' (BBC America)

Alex Kingston as River Song in DOCTOR WHO

The ratings for Doctor Who's series 6 premiere on BBC America are in! "The Impossible Astronaut" is confirmed as the cable channel's highest-rated show ever. 1.28m people tuned into the episode on Saturday evening, which was itself set in America. That's an improvement of 71,000 viewers over series 5's premiere last year.Naturally, broadcasting the episode the same day as the UK helped matters (by curbing online piracy), but it's perhaps surprising only an extra 71,000 people were added to last year's figures. Maybe the BBC have overestimated the number of Americans willing to download the series online? I wonder if the BBC were imagining there were hundreds of thousands of American fans who wouldn't ordinarily wait for BBC America's broadcast, when in fact most probably do wait for it to be televised. Or download in addition to watching it on US television?Any thoughts, American readers?

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