NBC’s Sunday NHL Coverage Down 41% From Last Year’s Number

NBC Ratings Take Hit With Devils-Lightning Game Six

NBC earned a 0.7/2 final Nielsen rating for its national coverage of Devils-Lightning Game Six last Sunday, down 41.7% from a 1.2/3 for regional coverage during the comparable Sunday during last year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs. Sunday’s NHL coverage on NBC was sandwiched between the National Heads-Up Poker Tournament and the Mutual of Omaha Duel in the Pool, which earned a 0.9 and a 0.8, respectively. The net’s national coverage of Flames-Red Wings Game Five last Saturday earned a 0.8/2 final rating, down 20% from a 1.0/3 for comparable regional coverage last year (THE DAILY).

HOOPS: ABC earned a 3.0/8 final Nielsen rating for Sunday’s Lakers-Suns Game One, down 11.8% from a 3.4/8 for the same matchup last year. The net earned a 2.2 for Saturday’s Heat-Bulls Game One, down 8.3% from a 2.4 for the comparable Wizards-Cavaliers Game One last year (THE DAILY).

DIAMOND RINGS: ESPN averaged 3,952,000 HHs and 5,483,000 viewers for Yankees-Red Sox last Sunday night, making it the most-viewed “Sunday Night Baseball” telecast ever, beating the previous record of 3,862,000 HHs and 5,258,000 viewers for Yankees-Red Sox on July 25, 2004. The game was the most-viewed regular season MLB telecast since Cardinals-Cubs on September 7, 1998, when 7,104,000 HHs tuned in to see Mark McGwire hit his 61st home run. The game was the third highest-rated show on cable for the week, topped only by HBO’s “The Sopranos” and Discovery Channel’s “Planet Earth.” Fox’ MLB Game of the Week drew 4.7 million viewers last Saturday for its regional coverage of Yankees-Red Sox and Cubs-Cardinals, topping the 2.9 million viewers for ABC’s Heat-Bulls (THE DAILY).