Meet The Heatles: Sun Sports Gets Huge Numbers For Big Three

Heat Preseason Debut Of Bosh (l), James Brings Sun Sports Record Ratings

Sun Sports pulled amazing TV numbers for the Heat's opening preseason game against the Pistons, which marked the debut of LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade on the same team. Tuesday night's 6.5 rating was the RSN's highest-rated Heat game of any kind -- pre-, regular- or postseason -- since a playoff against the Knicks in April '98. The game also marked the Heat's highest-rated preseason game ever. The Heat averaged a 2.48 rating during the '09-10 regular season. Tuesday night's rating peaked between 9:15-9:30pm ET with a 7.9 rating (John Ourand, THE DAILY). NBA TV broadcast the Pistons-Heat game, and the net's Steve Smith said the game was the "most anticipated preseason game in all of NBA history, and probably in all of sports history." NBA TV's Marv Albert added the game has to "be considered the most hyped preseason game in NBA history" (NBA TV, 10/5).

DON'T MESS WITH THE BULLS, SON: Comcast SportsNet Chicago earned a 2.54 local rating and 89,000 total households in Chicago for Tuesday night's Bulls-Bucks preseason game, the highest-rated preseason game ever on the net. The game also is the highest-rated preseason contest on any Chicago-based RSN since SportsChannel Chicago earned a 3.2 rating in October '97, Michael Jordan's last season with the team (CSN Chicago).