HBO's `True Blood' Season Premiere Sucks Up 5 Million Viewers

Home Box Office's vampire series True Blood took a healthy
bite out of Sunday night's prime time television audience, drawing 5.1
million viewers for its third season premiere.

True Blood's June 13 season three
premiere audience was up 38% from last June's season two debut, which
averaged 3.7 million viewers and was up 19% compared to the series'
season two average of 4.3 million, according to HBO officials.

Adding in the 1.3 million viewers from the show's 11 p.m. replay, True

Blood, which stars Anna Pacquin, ended the night with 6.4 million
viewers, said HBO.

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.