THE DAILY lists MLB's final season Nielsen TV ratings
for its broadcast and cable partners: Fox, FSN, FX and
ESPN/ESPN2. FSN's rating is for its "Baseball Thursday"
broadcasts. FX carried MLB games on Saturday evenings. The
numbers in parentheses in "# OF GAMES" column represent the
amount of weekends Fox aired games (THE DAILY).
NET YEAR # OF GAMES RAT/SHR (HHS) %+/-
Fox '98 72 (18) 3.1/10
'99 72 (18) 2.9/9 - 6%
'00 70 (19) 2.6/8 -10%
ESPN '98 82 1.80/(1,330,000)
'99 84 1.50/(1,140,000) -17%
'00 65 1.26/( 986,000) -16%
ESPN2 '98 8 0.75/(461,000)
'99 10 0.65/(430,000) -13%
'00 44 0.54/(379,000) -17%
FSN '98 26 0.86/(545,000)
'99 26 0.88/(546,000) + 2%
'00 26 0.76/(499,000) -14%
FX '98 26 0.56/(201,000)
'99 26 0.51/(206,000) + 9%
'00 26 0.44/(220,000) -14%
HIGHEST RATED GAMES: The highest-rated MLB telecast on
Fox was the July 8 four-game regional broadcast featuring
Yankees-Mets, which earned a 3.8/12. The highest-rated
telecast on ESPN was the July 9 Yankees-Mets day game, which
earned a 3.72/(2,912,000 HHs). The highest-rated telecast
on ESPN2 was the August 13 Yankees-Angels game, which earned
a 1.47/(1,048,000 HHs). FSN's highest-rated telecast was
the July 6 Reds-Cardinals and Mariners-Angels doubleheader,
which produced a 1.52/(917,000 HHs). On FX, the highest-
rated telecast was the July 9 Mets-Yankees night game, which
drew a 0.92/(454,000 HHs). FX games are blacked out in the
TV markets of both participating teams (THE DAILY)....For
broadcast numbers, one ratings point = 1,008,000 homes.
