ESPN earned a 9.2 overnight Nielsen rating for the Dolphins-Jets “MNF” telecast from 8:30-11:30pm ET, up 28% from a 7.2 for Titans-Jaguars in Week Six last year. The increase will mark ESPN’s first year-over-year “MNF” ratings gain. In Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, last night’s telecast earned a 12.9 local rating on ESPN and a 6.7 rating on WSFL-CW. In N.Y., the game earned a 10.4 rating on ESPN and a 4.0 rating on WWOR-MYT (Austin Karp, THE DAILY).
EURO ZONE: ITV has signed a deal to be the "lead U.K. broadcaster of UEFA Europa League games in a three-year deal that will see the end of Channel 5's coverage of the competition." ITV agreed to air the "first- and second-pick" Europa League matches for the '12-13 and '14-15 seasons, with ESPN "picking up the rights to the remainder of the matches." ESPN "will show at least one live Europa League match" each week "as well as a highlights package" (GUARDIAN.co.uk, 10/17). If English teams progress to the quarterfinals and beyond “some matches will be shown on flagship web ITV1” (VARIETY.com, 10/17).
ONE OF A KIND: In London, Matthew Holehouse wrote ESPN Saturday unveiled “the latest incarnation of chalkboard analysis: a table-top pitch with computer-generated players.” The set up, “dubbed ESPN Arena … costing [US$236,051] and developed by London software firm RT, is the first of its kind [in] the world” and was used for the first time in Saturday’s Everton-Chelsea EPL match. It combines “a 65 inch touch-screen table -- resembling an enlarged iPhone on legs -- with graphics technology that feeds in digitally-rendered players” (London TELEGRAPH, 10/15).
TASTEFUL COVERAGE: USA TODAY’s Michael Hiestand notes ABC earned a 1.5 overnight Nielsen rating for the Izod IndyCar Series World Championships broadcast on Sunday. The net “was largely tasteful in its coverage of a race that included driver Dan Wheldon’s death in a 15-car crash, although relentless replays of the complicated crash might have been too much, given the fatality” (USA TODAY, 10/18).
3D, THAT'S NO BULL: BROADCASTING & CABLE’s John Eggerton wrote DirecTV on Oct. 30 “will deliver what it says is the first-ever 3D broadcast of professional bull riding.” That is “the last day of the PBR World Championship.” The broadcast will be “available on DirecTV’s 24/7 3D channel, n3D (channel 103)” (BROADCASTINGCABLE.com, 10/14).
