Fox News Channel remained in the top spot on the weekly cable ratings front in both primetime and on a total day basis, according to Nielsen.

Fox News averaged 2.9 million viewers in primetime during the week of June 11-17, topping all cable networks for the third straight week, The network’s programming secured the top four telecasts during the week and 17 of the top 25 cable telecasts for the week, according to Nielsen.

MSNBC finished second with 1.7 million viewers, flowed by HGTV (1.4 million), USA Network (1.2 million) and TBS (1.1 million).

CNN and History (tied with 1 million), Investigation Discovery (987,000), Food Network (946,000), Discovery Channel (945,000) and A&E Network (905,000) rounded out the top 10 most watched shows for the week.

On a 24-hour basis, Fox News dominated the field for the 23 consecutive week, topping Nickelodeon, MSNBC, HGTV and Investigation Discovery, according to Nielsen. 

Many industry observers are speculating that the holiday-weekend digital distribution of Sony’s controversial movie The Interview will build momentum toward the release of big-ticket movies on digital video-on-demand platforms at the same time as the film’s theatrical release.

Sony on Dec. 28 reported that the movie drew 2 million downloads and $15 million from digital sales on YouTube, Google Play, Xbox Video and Sony’s SeeTheInterview.com standalone site since its Dec. 24 digital release. Sony said The Interview has already generated more revenue than any other studio digital release, but that statement requires an asterisk.

First, the movie was distributed under unprecedented circumstances. The Seth Rogen-James Franco comedy, which portrays the assassination of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un by two TV personalities — and North Korea’s alleged digital hacking of Sony’s servers that superseded the release — created a phenomenon that is unlikely to be replicated again. The news coverage surrounding the film combined with a curiosity factor among consumers afforded The Interview with awareness and publicity that no other film is likely to receive.

Second, the film was only released in 331 independent movie theaters after hackers threatened those exhibitors distributing the film. It’s unclear that the studio’s digital performance would have been as robust had the movie been fully distributed theatrically, as intended.

Still, a $15 million take from digital distributors under any circumstance is nothing to sneeze at, especially since it didn’t include traditional cable video-on-demand revenue. In Demand and other VOD distributors did not strike a deal to pick up the film until Dec. 31.

Many independent film distributors are already offering movie titles on digital VOD at the same time or before a film’s theatrical release. In August, Netflix will stream the much-anticipated sequel to 2000’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, simultaneously with its release in IMAX theaters.

While The Interview may or may not turn out to be the panacea that the digital VOD industry is expecting, it’s clear the movie’s digital performance has opened some eyes in the film industry. Time will tell if The Interview will sure the major film distributors to experiment with day-and-date digital/theatrical releases of big-budget movies in the near future.

On the heels of the Sony Studios cyber hacking controversy, Syfy announced Monday it will develop an original series that follows the world of high-tech cyber attacks.

The series, Hackers, will be produced in tandem with Relativity Television and will reveal the secrets behind the most infamous cyber-crimes ever committed, according to network officials.

The series will focus on “ripped from the headlines” stories of real-life hackers who turned entire industries upside down through interviews with the actual perpetrators as well as law enforcement agents who tracked them down, according to Syfy.

The series comes amid last month's Sony hacking scandal over the release of the studio's film The Interview. Initially, the studio shelved the film -- which centers on the fictional assassination of North Korean leader Kim-Jong Un --  in the wake of a cyber attack and threats by hackers that the FBI confirmed to be connected to the North Korean dictatorship, although some news outlets are now reporting that the cyber corruption may have eminated from a Sony insider.

The film over the past two weeks has been released via video on demand through several distribution outlets incliuding In Demand, as well as to more than 500 independent theaters.