CBS' Saturday third-round coverage of The Masters from
3:30-6:00 p.m. ET, produced an 8.6 rating/20 share, the
highest numbers for the third-round coverage since CBS has
televised the tournament, according to Steve Zipay of
NEWSDAY. Last year, CBS' Saturday overnight numbers, which
cover 36 markets, were 6.0/16. CBS Sports spokesperson
Leslie Anne Wade: "Normally, with a blowout, you'd see a
dropoff, but this seems to have everyone interested"
(NEWSDAY, 4/14). Saturday's overnights were up 43% over
last year (Rudy Martzke, USA TODAY, 4/14). On Thursday USA
Network's opening round coverage did a 2.4 rating, a 33%
increase over last year's 1.8 opening round (THE DAILY).
COVERING THE COVERAGE: In L.A., Tom Hoffarth notes CBS
"played a TV equivalent to Woods' performance, which is what
you'd expect from the premier golf network. ... It was
almost as if it were taped a week prior and edited into the
perfect broadcast" (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 4/14). In Toronto, Rob
Longley called CBS' coverage a "long-winded walk in the
park," noting that "even the normally composed" Jim Nantz
"lost it," describing Nantz's closing line calling Woods
"destiny's child" as "a little over the top" (TORONTO SUN,
4/14). In Houston, David Barron writes CBS' David Feherty's
"spare, economical commentary was a welcome break from the
gravid, gooey, sticky sentimentality CBS continues to spread
like pasteurized process cheese product on ballpark nachos"
(HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 4/14). USA TODAY's Rudy Martzke notes
CBS' coverage showed why it is "slipping behind two-time
Sports Emmy-nominated NBC as golf's top network," calling
CBS "stuck in the 1980s" instead of "augmenting the story of
the tournament through graphics" (USA TODAY, 4/14).
MASTERS OF THEIR DOMAIN: CNN's Sean Callebs examined
The Masters' policy of having only two tournament sponsors,
The Travelers and Cadillac, and allowing CBS only four
minutes of commercial time an hour, "half of the usual time
for a sporting event." Former CBS Sports President Neal
Pilson: "It's their sandbox, and that's awfully hard for the
public and the media to understand." Pilson, on why CBS
accepts The Masters' "demands": "Every one of the networks
would be happy to take the same deal that CBS has accepted
for the last 37 years" ("Moneyline," CNN, 4/11).
