The Hornets, Trail Blazers and Kings are the "only NBA
teams" whose local over-the-air ratings are up compared to
last season, according to a league source cited by David
Scott of the CHARLOTTE OBSERVER. Through 13 televised
games, the Hornets' average rating is a 3.3, up 14% from
last year's final season average of a 2.9. The Blazers are
up 27% in Portland, while the Kings are up 56% in
Sacramento. Scott writes that NBA teams whose local ratings
are "markedly down" include the Hawks (53%), Mavericks
(44%), Clippers (43%), Heat (43%) and 76ers (43%) (CHARLOTTE
OBSERVER, 3/22). The ratings cited by Scott for the '99-
2000 season are through January (THE DAILY). In Sacramento,
Marcos Breton reported that through 15 games, the Kings have
averaged an 8 rating on its over-the-air carrier,
translating into almost 100,000 local HHs. Last year, the
team generated "only" about a 5.0 (SACRAMENTO BEE, 3/21).
MSG reports that through 51 games the Knicks are averaging a
2.94 HH rating, translating into 202,125 HHs. That is 21%
higher than through the same number of games in the '97-98
season, the last full NBA season (MSG).
