ALCS Game Six Draws 8.9 Million; TBS Derided For Power Outage

TBS Averages 8.9 Million Viewers For Red Sox-Rays ALCS Game Six

TBS averaged 8.9 million viewers for Red Sox-Rays ALCS Game Six on Saturday night, marking the net's most-viewed game of the '08 MLB Playoffs to date. The game drew a 34.5 rating in Boston and a 22.4 in Tampa-St. Pete. Through six games of the Rays-Red Sox ALCS, TBS has averaged a 4.8 cable rating and 6.5 million viewers, up 41.2% and 51.7%, respectively, from a 3.4 cable rating and 4.3 million viewers for the Rockies' sweep of the D'Backs in the NLCS last year. TBS averaged 7.2 million viewers for Rays-Red Sox ALCS Game Five Thursday night. From the middle of the seventh inning at 10:55pm ET, which began the Red Sox' seven-run comeback, the net averaged 7.9 million viewers until the end of the telecast. THE DAILY has refrained from publishing cable overnights on sports properties; final numbers from TBS for ALCS Game Seven should be available later today (THE DAILY).

UNINTENDED BLACKOUT: In Boston, Tony Massarotti reported TBS viewers were unable to see the start of Saturday’s Red Sox-Rays ALCS Game Six because of what was termed a "router failure" at TBS’ Atlanta HQs. Media outlets and cable operators were “flooded with calls demanding an explanation” as viewers expecting to see the game instead saw an episode of "The Steve Harvey Show." TBS “repaired the problem late in the first inning,” but viewers “missed the first six batters of the game.” TBS “issued an apology and [a] fairly generic statement during the game.” Turner Sports Senior Dir of PR Jeff Pomeroy took questions from reporters during the sixth inning and said TBS suffered a failure of both “the main router and the backup router.” Pomeroy indicated that the failure of the routers was “unprecedented and prevented TBS from broadcasting a live message of any kind, including an informational scrawl at the bottom of the screen.” He added that the routers failed with “about five minutes remaining in the pregame show, leaving TBS with little time to act,” and that the net “had no choice but to put on taped programming.”  Pomeroy: “It’s never happened before.” Pomeroy said that he had “no knowledge of whether the TBS gaffe would allow MLB to opt out of its contract with the network” (BOSTON GLOBE, 10/19). MLB Senior VP/PR Rich Levin said that “no consideration was given to delaying the start of the game because the starting pitchers already had warmed up” (AP, 10/18).

Technical Difficulties Causes First 20 Minutes Of Game Six To Be Blacked Out

TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES: In DC, Leonard Shapiro reported the game began at 8:08pm ET, and TBS ran a crawl at the bottom of the screen reading, “We are experiencing technical difficulties.” By the time the problem was corrected, the Rays had a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Boston Globe correspondent Emily Wright said that the newspaper’s sports department received “about 70 calls from fans on ‘five telephones that were just ringing off the hook.’” Tampa Tribune Sports Night editor Mike Garbett said that there were “about 20 calls to his department, ‘most of them when the crawl wasn’t running.'" Garbett: "People thought it was being blacked out and some of them wondered what we were going to do about it” (WASHINGTON POST, 10/19). USA TODAY’s Michael Hiestand writes, “Given TBS’ sporadic graphics telling viewers there were technical difficulties, why couldn’t TBS carry graphics updating game action -- which ESPN did?” Pomeroy said that that “wasn’t technically possible because of TBS’ ‘limited ability to generate onscreen text’” (USA TODAY, 10/20).

MINOR LEAGUE: In N.Y., Bob Raissman wrote, “On an event this big, every precaution should be made to make sure there’s some kind of backup, safety valve in the case there is a major glitch.” A network source said, “They did get back on the air, but it’s mind-boggling that something like this could happen. It’s somewhat unprecedented” (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 10/19). Boston Univ. College of Communication Associate Dean Tobe Berkovitz said, “This was a real debacle for TBS as a credible network. This is supposed to be big-time television and they can’t even figure out how to broadcast the game” (BOSTON HERALD, 10/19). AWFUL ANNOUNCING wrote, “Hey, MLB: why not award the broadcast rights to a real station with a back-up plan if its signal takes a complete dump?” (AWFULANNOUNCING.com, 10/18). YAHOO SPORTS’ David Brown lists the Top 10 difficulties TBS had with the start of the ALCS broadcast (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 10/18).

Outside Of Power Outage, TBS Receives Praise For Its Coverage Of MLB Postseason

COVERING ALL THE BASES: In Toronto, Chris Zelkovich writes outside of the power outage, TBS’ MLB postseason coverage was “among the best playoff broadcasts baseball fans have seen in years.” The coverage was “old-fashioned -- a little slow-paced and devoid of the flash and dash to which we’ve become accustomed.” TBS “has shown that if you let the story tell itself without forcing the issue, baseball can be a pretty compelling game.” Analysts Buck Martinez and Ron Darling supply “great insights into the game.” However, play-by-play announcer Chip Caray “often misses the little things,” and it is “not clear exactly what role reporter Craig Sager serves" (TORONTO STAR, 10/20). The GLOBE & MAIL’s William Houston writes Caray “has a habit of overstating the ordinary, and he also periodically grapples with the basics of play-calling, such as differentiating between a go-ahead run and a winning run.” Still, Caray’s work “was first-rate.” Overall, TBS’ ALCS coverage was “well produced and enjoyable, in no small measure because of the game analysis” by Martinez and Darling. Neither is “hard-hitting, but what they were able to give us Saturday was insight into the stress of the moment and the teams’ strategies” (GLOBE & MAIL, 10/20). In St. Petersburg, Tom Jones gave TBS a "B+" for its postseason coverage and writes, “The announcers and production of the actual games were excellent with especially high marks" for Martinez, Darling and analyst Harold Reynolds. Game production and direction “was spot-on,” while the studio show “had good moments but not enough of them.” Jones also writes the best part of TBS ending its postseason coverage is “we don’t have to see any more of those Frank Caliendo commercials” (ST. PETERSBURG TIMES, 10/20).

RATINGS WATCH: CBSSPORTS.com’s Mike Freeman writes the Phillies-Rays World Series “could end up as the lowest-rated and least-watched World Series in modern history.” Rays fans “celebrated around the stadium for hours after the game ended. They were ecstatic and good for them. Same for Phillies fans. But they’ll be the only people longing for this one” (CBSSPORTS.com, 10/20). The GLOBE & MAIL's Jeff Blair writes under the header, "Fox's Worst Nightmare." Blair: "You know there's going to be all manner of bitching and moaning about how a Rays/Phillies World Series won’t be sexy enough for TV types.” But the ’00 Yankees-Mets World Series “was a ratings dud, too.” And if you “don’t enjoy watching the Rays, you probably don’t like baseball, anyhow” (GLOBEANDMAIL.com, 10/20). Fox Sports President Ed Goren said, “If it is a four-game World Series, it won’t have a chance to build ratings no matter who is playing. If the Series gets a run and goes six or seven games, we can look back at the [‘97] Marlins-Indians World Series that went seven games and did very well in the ratings” (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 10/18).