The show's first episode premiered on the Disney Channel in the US on September 26, 2008. Around 5.7 million people watched it on the night of its premiere.. The series premiere in Canada was also the most watched series premiere on Family channel. In December 2008, Business Wire reported that the show was 2008's #1 scripted television series for children between the ages 6 to 11 and older children between the ages 9 to 14, beating the older series "Hannah Montana" and "Wizards of Waverly Place" in the ratings.<ref name="Disney Channel/DisneyChannel.com Highlights For 2008"></ref> The show was in the #1 spot for the best rated children's television series for many months. The show has been one of the best 4 live-action television series for many months. Since then, “The Suite Life on Deck” had a large lead in the time slot (Friday 8:00 p.m.), ranking as TV's #1 program among the important children's age groups. The series is also #1 in total viewers on all cable, doing better than #2 rank (Fox News and Nickelodeon) by 800,000 more viewers.