CBS' coverage of Game One of yesterday's second-round
of the NCAA men's basketball tournament, featuring OK State
Univ.-Pepperdine Univ., earned a 4.2/10 overnight Nielsen
rating, down 7% from last year's 4.5/11. Game Two regional
coverage earned a 7.6/17 overnight, up 13% from last year's
6.7/14. Game Three regional coverage earned a 9.2/17, up 7%
from last year's 8.6/16. CBS' NCAA tourney coverage is
averaging a 5.7/12 overnight rating, up 6% from last year's
5.4/12 (CBS). For more overnight ratings, see (#30). In
Houston, David Barron writes, "Thus far, unpredictability is
good for ratings." CBS' coverage of Saturday's four
regional games "had an average major-market Nielsen rating"
of a 5.4/12, up 8% from a 5.0/11 a year ago and the
network's highest since '94. The 5.9/15 overnight for
Saturday's Syracuse Univ.-Univ. of KY game "was the highest
for the early time slot" since '88 (HOUSTON CHRONICLE,
3/20). ELECTRONIC MEDIA reported that CBS' Thursday
coverage averaged a 4.7/10 rating, the network's highest
rating since '94 (ELECTRONIC MEDIA, 3/17). In Boston,
Howard Manly wrote, "Granted, [Thursday's] 4.7 rating ... is
not staggering, but given the fact that the games started
around noon, when most people are at work, and ended around
midnight, when most people are asleep, that rating is
respectable" (BOSTON GLOBE, 3/19). In Atlanta, Prentis
Rogers: "If the early returns are any indication, the value
of the tournament as a television event is moving in the
right direction" (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 3/20). USA TODAY's
Rudy Martzke writes that CBS "isn't complaining about its"
11-year, $6B NCAA TV deal (USA TODAY, 3/20).
CRITICS CORNER: In K.C., Jeffrey Flanagan called CBS'
NCAA tournament coverage "just average. Really average.
Embarrassingly average. CBS doesn't use the scoreboard
ticker nearly enough, which, when you think about it, is
simply arrogant on its part, not to mention an abuse of
power. Earth to CBS: We all have brackets we're concerned
about." Flanagan's "biggest aggravation" is the network's
"enslavement to commercials, of which there is no escape"
(K.C. STAR, 3/19). In DC, Leonard Shapiro wrote that DC-
area viewers were "subjected to some helter-skelter
switching to and from game sites" and "not enough updates on
other scores." But Shapiro added that studio announcers
Greg Gumbel and Clark Kellogg "are a major plus" and
applauded CBS for avoiding "gimmicky picture-on-picture
coverage" of multiple games (WASHINGTON POST, 3/18). In
N.Y., Phil Mushnick criticizes CBS for not offering more
varied game coverage: "CBS prefers a narrower look at the
NCAA Tournament, especially during games of regional
interest. And while we recognize that CBS can't please
everyone, it could've by now conditioned reasonable viewers
to expect reasonable switches. Besides, why buy the whole
thing, then show so little?" (N.Y. POST, 3/20).
HE'S A PACKER FAN: In Boston, Howard Manly, on CBS
announcer Billy Packer: "[Packer] remains one of the few
analysts that viewers actually listen to, even if it's so
they can prove him wrong. ... He makes for good television
because he generates a reaction" (BOSTON GLOBE, 3/19).
