News brief: Sons of Anarchy shatters FX ratings record

US cable channel FX has seen the premiere of the final season of biker drama Sons of Anarchy become its highest-rated programme ever.

The episode took 9.25 million viewers between its live broadcast on September 10 and three days of playback. Among this, it took 6.1 million prized 18-49s.

Both statistics trail only AMC’s massive zombie drama The Walking Dead among scripted cable series this year.

FX pointed to the fact Sons of Anarchy had outscored CBS’s reality series Big Brother by nearly three million viewers.

Sons of Anarchy’s sixth season run already ranked as the most-watched in the Fox-owned channel’s 20-year history, and overall series ratings are up more than 200% from its 2008 season premiere.