Fox reported a preliminary overnight rating of 9.1/14 for
last night's Cardinals-Braves game, with a high of a 36.3/50 in
St. Louis and 32.8/49 in Atlanta. NBC announced a 34-market
overall average of a 8.8/22 for Orioles-Yankees ALCS Game Two
yesterday. In New York, it earned a 19.2/39, while in Baltimore
it received a 24.9/53 (THE DAILY).
RATINGS: NBC earned a 10.3 preliminary overnight rating for
Wednesday's the Orioles-Yankees Game One. Fox's overnight of a
8.7 was down 40% from '95's regionalized format, according to
Rudy Martzke of USA TODAY. It was the lowest all-time for the
LCS in prime time since the format began in 1969. But Fox Sports
spokesperson Vince Wladika said, "Our rating is up 16% from our
normal 7.5 [rating] for Wednesday night. So is baseball worth it
for us? Yes" (USA TODAY, 10/11). In Milwaukee, Bob Wolfley
writes NBC's "high-stakes bet" on MLB "isn't paying off."
Wolfley adds General Electric, which paid $400M for playoff and
World Series games in '97 and '99, "isn't getting much in
return." The network will "lose money" on MLB this year and "may
be forced to cut advertising rates for games next year." Bill
Carroll, VP/Katz TV Group in New York: "Whatever could go wrong
did go wrong" (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 10/11).
CHILD'S PLAY: The media's treatment of 12-year old Jeff
Maier, who was the focus of Wednesday's game, is analyzed by
Steve Zipay of NEWSDAY. Zipay writes of Maier, "Hero or zero?,"
adding "perhaps the most bizarre development was Maier's father
asking the Yankees to re-enact the controversial home run before
yesterday's game. The team refused." NBC Sports defended Jim
Gray's interview with Maier after the incident. One NBC insider:
"Dozens of newspaper writers hustled out to talk to Maier, as
well. If Gray wasn't there, would they slam NBC for not
scrambling to talk to a fan who affected the game?" (NEWSDAY,
10/11).
ALL ALONE WITH MY MEMORY: In Baltimore, Milton Kent notes
missing from NBC's Orioles-Yankees telecast yesterday was a plug
for Fox's NLCS action. Fox mentioned NBC on Wednesday night,
"but NBC has yet to return the favor." Fox Sports' Vince
Wladika: "There's been a spirit of cooperation in the Division
Series that we carried into the LCS but others seem to have
forgotten" (Baltimore SUN, 10/11).
