Fox's coverage of last night's Cardinals-Mets NLCS Game
Four earned a 7.9/12 overnight Nielsen rating, down 12% from
last year's 9.0/14 for Yankees-Red Sox ALCS Game Four.
Saturday afternoon's Cardinals-Mets Game Three earned a
6.3/14 overnight Nielsen rating, down 25% from last year's
8.4 (Fox). NBC's coverage of yesterday's Yankees-Mariners
ALCS Game Five earned an 8.2/22 overnight, down 38% from
last year's 13.2/22 for Braves-Mets NLCS Game Four.
Saturday night's Yankees-Mariners Game Four earned a 8.1/14
overnight, down 9% from last year's 8.9/16. Friday night's
coverage of Game Three earned a 10.2/18 overnight rating,
down 8% from last year's 11.1/20 (NBC). Schulman/Advanswers
Senior VP Tom DeCabia questions the accuracy of Nielsen's
MLB ratings: "If I'm Fox, I'm on Nielsen's back asking for a
review of these numbers. These numbers just aren't making
sense. I know there have been other factors, but everyone
is talking about these games, they've been great for the
most part, and the numbers are showing these dramatic
decreases. It just doesn't add up" (WASH. TIMES, 10/15).
LOCAL RATINGS: In St. Louis, Thursday's Mets-Cardinals
Game Two on KTVI-Fox averaged a 39.7 local rating, compared
to Game One's 38.2 local rating (Dan Caesar, ST. LOUIS POST-
DISPATCH, 10/14). In Seattle, Hickey & Bruscas reported
that Tuesday's ALCS Game One earned a 42.0/64 local rating
on KING-NBC, while Game Two of the series earned a 32.0/68
local rating (SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER, 10/14).
TIME PASSAGES: Many members of the media feel the
length of the playoff games have led to ratings erosion. USA
TODAY's Hal Bodley notes the average length for an LCS game
this year is 3:33, compared with 3:15 in '99. This year's
Division Series games averaged 3:14, compared with 3:07 in
'99. Despite vowing to study the length of games, MLB
Commissioner Bud Selig said, "I must say we don't hear a lot
of complaining from fans. This, to them, isn't a priority
in a lot of surveys and studies" (USA TODAY, 10/16). In DC,
Thomas Boswell wrote if MLB "wants to become obsolete in the
21st century and drive away anybody with a pulse -- young or
old -- who might want to be a fan, then the game is doing a
wonderful job. Contests, even excellent ones with a pennant
or World Series at stake, are unwatchable when they take
nearly four hours." Boswell: "Do advertisers know that this
is all they're getting for their millions? For that matter,
wait until Rupert Murdoch finds out what Fox just bought.
You cornered the market on all the postseason baseball? For
how many years? For how much? Postseason baseball is
supposed to have you on the edge of your seat, not asleep
under your seat" (WASHINGTON POST, 10/15). In Chicago, Ed
Sherman writes, "It should be abundantly clear to baseball
executives that while fans enjoy the ambiance of going to
the ballpark, there is a massive tuneout for televised games
that move as fast as rush-hour traffic." He writes MLB
execs seem "to be ignoring the obvious: Baseball needs to
pick up the pace because it is losing the race on
television" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 10/16). In N.Y, Murray Chass
wondered, "Can't anyone here play this game faster" (N.Y.
TIMES, 10/15). USA TODAY's Mike Lopresti: "Who has time to
watch four hours of baseball?" (USA TODAY, 10/16). In
Toronto, Chris Zelkovich: "This sport is rapidly becoming
television unfriendly. ... When Fox tries to dress up its
production with all those video-game graphics and cartoon
robots, all it does is accentuate how slow the real game has
become in comparison" (TORONTO STAR, 10/16).
FOX TALK: In L.A., T.J. Simers: "The fact that Fox has
the rights to every World Series, playoff and All-Star game
for the remainder of our lives is going to drive me back to
the radio. Fox's idea of capturing the excitement of
baseball is to bounce the viewer from the manager's face --
to a fan's face -- to the other manager's face -- to a fan's
face -- to the pitcher's face -- to a fan's face -- to the
face of a player leaning on the dugout railing -- to the
batter's face. And that's on ball one" (L.A. TIMES, 10/15).
FOX TO SELL OFF SOME POSTSEASON GAMES? ESPN.com's
Jayson Stark wrote that Fox "will be forced to place at
least part of the first round" of next year's MLB postseason
action on cable networks FSN and FX "that could have
significantly fewer viewers than ESPN2. Very few hotels,
for example, carry any of Fox's cable networks." Fox may
end up selling part of the package to TBS or TNT. Selig
said he is "concerned" about the situation, and MLB is
talking with Fox about ways to address it (ESPN.com, 10/14).
