Fox led all Week Nine NFL game telecasts with an 18.6 overnight Nielsen rating for its national window, which featured Giants-Patriots in 55% of markets and Packers-Chargers in 36%. That figure marks the second-best NFL overnight of the season on any net and Fox' fifth-best NFL regular-season overnight over the last decade. The 18.6 rating is also up 8.8% from a 17.1 overnight for CBS’ national window in Week Nine last year, which featured Colts-Eagles. Fox also earned a 9.7 overnight for regional coverage in the early window, down 19.2% from last year. NBC earned a 14.2 overnight for the Ravens-Steelers “SNF” matchup, up 14.5% from Cowboys-Packers last year. “SNF” also gave NBC another Sunday primetime win. Pittsburgh topped all metered markets with a 53.0 local rating, while Baltimore ranked second with a 45.0 rating. CBS’ singleheader earned an 11.1 overnight, up 2.8% (Austin Karp, THE DAILY)
| NFL WEEK NINE: SUNDAY OVERNIGHT NIELSEN RATINGS |
| NET | '11 GAME | RAT. | '10 NET | '10 GAME | RAT. | % +/- |
| CBS | (single) | 11.1 | Fox | (single) | 10.8 | 2.8% |
| Fox | (regional) | 9.7 | CBS | (regional) | 12.0 | -19.2% |
| Fox | Giants-Patriots (55%);
Packers-Chargers (36%) | 18.6 | CBS | Colts-Eagles (76%) | 17.1 | 8.8% |
| NBC | Ravens-Steelers | 14.2 | NBC | Cowboys-Packers | 12.4 | 14.5% |
| | | | | | | |
AMPED UP: In Baltimore, David Zurawik notes NBC's "Football Night in America" came out "smoking Sunday with Bob Costas, [Cris] Collinsworth and Al Michaels sounding amped even for the pre-game to the matchup between" the Steelers and Ravens. NBC Sports "had been promoting the interview Costas did with [Ravens LB] Terrell Suggs all day, and they used it expertly at the start of the pre-game show to rev up the intensity." Zurawik writes Michaels and Collinsworth are "far and away the best broadcast team on TV." Zurawik: "Overall, the best thing about the duo in the booth Sunday night was that they were seasoned and self-confident enough to mainly get out of the way and let the intensity of the action on the field speak for itself" (Baltimore SUN, 11/7).
IN PERSPECTIVE: In Denver, Dusty Saunders writes after the Broncos' win over the Raiders yesterday, look for "many sports talk-show hosts and callers to hop on the" Tim Tebow bandwagon. But Saunders notes as CBS' Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf noted late in the game, Tebow "shared stardom" with RB Willis McGahee, WR Eddie Royal and, "to some degree, the Broncos' defense." While acknowledging that Tebow "had by far his best performance of the season, neither Gumbel nor Dierdorf hoisted him into a Hall of Fame position" (DENVER POST, 11/7).
SANDWICH ARTISTS: During CBS’ “Subway Postgame Show” yesterday, Subway spokespersons Jared Fogle and Apolo Ohno appeared in-studio wearing Subway apparel and behind a table set with new Subway “Be Melty” subs. Ohno just completed his first N.Y. Marathon, running “in partnership with Subway and also for the Special Olympics.” By finishing the marathon in under four hours -- 3 hours, 25 minutes, 14 seconds -- Subway donated $26,200 to the Special Olympics. CBS’ James Brown asked Ohno how he trained for the marathon and asked, “With Subway being an integral part of that?” Ohno: “I can put away like two-and-a-half feet of subs, like all day long” (“Subway Postgame Show,” CBS, 11/6).
PRIME-TIME PROPERTY: In N.Y., Carter & Stelter note "most of the hours on NBC’s schedule, other than the potent 'Sunday Night Football' package, have regressed in ratings this season." Without the big ratings "supplied by the NFL (which costs NBC more than $600 million a year to buy) NBC would be struggling to stay out of fifth place in the ratings." Without football, NBC is "now tied with the Spanish-language network Univision in" 18-49 ratings. NBCUniversal President & CEO Steve Burke has been "stressing patience through the dismal start of this season." One sign of the patience NBC is "trying to apply was the decision to withhold from the fall the one breakthrough show it has programmed in the past five years, the singing competition 'The Voice.'" NBC Programming Chief Bob Greenblatt resisted rushing the show back because it "needed more time to find suitable contestants, and because holding it back meant it could be reintroduced in February, when NBC broadcasts the Super Bowl" (N.Y. TIMES, 11/7).
BLACKOUT BILL: The AP's Brent Kallestad noted Florida State Sen. Mike Fasano "filed a bill (SB 836) Friday requiring" Florida's three NFL teams -- the Dolphins, Jaguars and Buccaneers -- "to televise all home games whether they're sold out or not." Fasano's proposal "applies to all professional sports franchises using facilities that receive tax dollars." Fasano's bill would "fine teams $125,000 for each game that is blacked out locally." He said that the money "would go to be used for buying tickets to give to military personnel and their dependents, foster children, nonprofit organizations and 'those who can't afford to purchase a ticket.'" The NFL "did not immediately return a request for comment on Fasano's proposal" (AP, 11/4).
