TNT’s Converted NBA All-Star Game Rating Marks All-Time Low

TNT earned a 6.0/ (5,331,000 HHs) Nielsen cable rating for last Sunday’s NBA All-Star Game, down 5% from a 6.3/ (5,525,000 HHs) last year (THE DAILY). USA TODAY’s Rudy Martzke reports TNT’s 4.9 converted broadcast network rating marks “an all-time low for the event and 3% below the rating for last season’s game.” CBS college basketball analyst Billy Packer believes that the “pregame and halftime musical ‘entertainment stuff is killing the game.’” Packer: “The real fan of the game is being neglected. They’re not marketing to basketball fans.” But NBA Commissioner David Stern said, “I don’t know if Billy knows rap from hip-hop. He must be upset because his ratings are down” (USA TODAY, 2/25). USA TODAY’s Gary Levin noted TNT’s NBA All-Star Game was cable’s most-viewed program for the week with 8.1 million viewers, “just a tad below last year’s turnout” (USA TODAY, 2/24). The NBA All-Star Game “managed to beat the primetime lineups on CBS, NBC and WB on Sunday among adults 18-34. While the game posted declines among men 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54, it was still the No. 1 show “on basic cable among those demos” (MEDIALIFE MAGAZINE, 2/24).