Remember that the conference TV networks have nothing to do with ratings. They are all about subscribers.

When Comcast, Direct/AT&T, Charter/Spectrum, Cox, Hulu, Sling, etc make carriage deals, they have to pay the network a charge from every single customer bill for that programming. If 100 million subs have access to a network and the network pays $0.50 per month per sub to the network, that means that the network pulls in $50 million per year. The SEC and Big 10 networks have big payouts to their schools because they are up in millions more homes thanks to Comcast availability. Once Disney negotiates their deal with Comcast and the ACC Network gets carriage on Comcast services, then the ACC will be in a similar neighborhood as the other two networks as far as revenue intake.

The ratings are a cherry on top of the sundae as they control pricing for ad spots that run during the games. If ratings improve, less spurtle ads and tac shaver ads run. The better the ad, the better the ratings point for the programming.

In addition, it is ludicrous to compare rating for the ACCN, SECN, and BTN against any cable channel as they have a very niche audience. They likely compare more favorably against a regional sports network due to the type of programming. Therefore, a comparison of the ACCN vs Paramount or QVC makes no sense.