Game Three of the World Cup of Hockey drew a "whopping" 3.9
millon average audience on the CBC, according to William Houston
of the Toronto GLOBE & MAIL. That is the second highest rating
for a hockey game on CBC, behind only Game Seven of the '94
Stanley Cup Rangers-Canucks final. The ratings for the first two
games were, 2.47 million and 2.87 million, respectively (Toronto
GLOBE & MAIL, 9/19). SI's Michael Farber, writing on the final
game in the current issue, notes "Too bad you probably missed it.
Maybe you found the World Cup while searching for an old In
Living Color episode on fX. Maybe not. Two years from now, when
hockey's Dream Teams meet in the Olympics, U.S. television
viewers will lap all this up" (SI, 9/23 issue).
RATINGS NEWS & NOTES: TNT's Sunday night Bucs-Broncos games
earned a 8.9/13, the highest rated program on basic cable this
year (WASHINGTON POST, 9/19)....The Orioles 35 telecasts on WJZ
this season did a 13.2/24 rating. That was up 16% from the
11.4/22 average of '95 (Baltimore SUN, 9/19)....The Indians
division clinching win Tuesday drew a 23.6 rating on WUBA, making
it the most watched program of the night, beating all other
network season premiere programming (Akron BEACON JOURNAL, 9/19).
CONSIDER THIS: Responding to Raiders Owner Al Davis's recent
claim that network TV rights fees will double when the NFL
package is up after '97, Broncos Owner Pat Bowlen said, "Consider
the source. Al doesn't know what he's talking about." Bowlen
said he is opposed to a weekly Thursday night game, believing it
would "dilute the product" (Peter King, SI, 9/23 issue). USA
TODAY's Gordon Forbes criticizes the idea of the NFL expanding
its TV schedule to include 18 games, more playoff teams, and
potentially games on Friday night. Forbes: "Maybe the NFL just
floated those leaks about an expanded schedule as a trial
balloon. Excuse me ... bang! bang! bang!" (USA TODAY, 9/19).