Sports ratings have generally been up, fueled in part by cash-strapped consumers staying home to save money.

And there's the critical star factor: big-name players like Cleveland's LeBron James and LA's Kobe Bryant, along with big-city teams like the Boston Celtics and Chicago Bulls, highlight this year's playoffs.

They were mostly right. TNT had done well, even if ESPN is off to a wobbly start.

In the first week of playoffs last week, TNT posted ratings increases over its first week of playoffs last season, when the network generated its best-ever first-round ratings in the nearly quarter century it has aired NBA playoffs.

Its playoff audience for the first week was up 4 percent over last year, to just under an average 3 million viewers. Its household audience was up 3 percent, to 2.3 million homes.

TNT was the No. 1 network in all major adult demographics last week, the week ended April 26.

In primetime it was No. 1 in 18-49s with nearly 1.6 million viewers. Among 25-54s, it also was on top with 1.5 million people tuning in, as it was in 18-34s, with an average 821,000 viewers.

In 18-49s, TNT had four of the 10 most-watched programs last week. All were NBA playoff games, including two pitting the Los Angeles Lakers against the Utah Jazz. Also making the top 10 were Pistons-Cavaliers and Bulls-Celtics matchups.

ESPN didn’t fare as well as TNT the first week.

The network averaged a 2.1 household rating for seven playoff games, down from a 2.4 rating the same week last year.

But it’s early into the playoffs, so ESPN could very well post decent ratings going forward. It just finished its most-watched regular season ever, posting a 14 percent year-to-year increase in its total NBA audience.

Last week, ESPN was a top-five network in each of the adult demographics.

It did well with Major League Baseball and its coverage of the NFL Draft, which was the No. 1 show in 18-49s and 25-54s.

It ranked No. 4 in 18-49s with an average 926,000 viewers. It was No. 3 in 25-54s with 906,000. In 18-34s, it was No. 4 with an audience of 476,000 viewers.