The broadcast networks are smarting from a disastrous February that saw ratings on the Big Five tumble as much as 41 percent. Only Fox was up, lifted out of negative territory by the Super Bowl.

But the viewers had to go somewhere, and that somewhere was cable.

“People tuned into cable networks they wouldn’t normally watch and found shows they liked,” says Brad Adgate, senior vice president and corporate research director at Horizon Media. “That happens in the summer a lot."

It wasn't summer but it may have felt like it with the flush of reruns on broadcast as the broadcast networks ran through the last of their stockpiled episodes stored up for the strike.

Quite suddenly, viewers were feeling the full impact of the strike.

“You go to a network to see a program you like and it’s not there. After that happens a few times, it sinks in," says David Scardino, entertainment specialist at Rubin Postaer and Associates. “Even the casual viewer sensed there was chaos at the networks."

Among the 10 largest cable networks in the 18-49 demographic, nine posted increases in primetime over last February.

Of the 70 networks measured by Nielsen, 52 were dramatically up from last year or at worst flat.

Several networks, including FX, History Channel and Oxygen, posted their best February audiences ever.

Networks like TNT and ESPN saw big boosts from sports while USA and others saw ratings spike from original scripted series like “Monk.”

Top-rated USA saw its audience increase 11 percent, to an average 1.29 million viewers. TBS was up 9 percent, to 1.1 million. Its sister network TNT was up 13 percent, to just under 1.1 million viewers.

FX was up 28 percent, to 875,000 viewers. A&E was up 2 percent, to an average 738,000 viewers. ESPN was up 41 percent, to 727,000. Comedy Central was up 3 percent, to 668,000, Discovery was up 8 percent, to 653,000, and MTV was up 4 percent, to 635,000 viewers.

But the flush of reruns was not the only reason for broadcast's declines.

It's simply been an all-around lousy season. Network shows unaffected by the strike, like Fox’s “American Idol,” are down from last year, while the Academy Awards, which aired after the strike ended, posted its worst audience ever.

And that raises a bigger question of how many viewers will actually return when original episodes return to broadcast, likely in April. "We’ll see how many come back," says Adgate.

But certainly another force behind cable's February gains was that cable also had a lot of strong programming through the month.

CNN and MSNBC posted huge year-to-year increases because of presidential primaries. The tight race between Democratic senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama is arguably the most captivating programming on the air right now.

“The writers’ strike made February worse than it otherwise would have been for broadcast, but it still would have been bad,” says Jack Wakshlag, chief research officer at TBS. “Cable had a very strong news environment.”