NBC earned a 2.2 overnight Nielsen rating for Saturday night's Kings-Devils NHL Stanley Cup Final Game Two, down 12% from a 2.5 overnight for the comparable Bruins-Canucks Game Two last year (THE DAILY).
BRASS RINGS? CABLEFAX DAILY notes Comcast Chair & CEO Brian Roberts “was a little hesitant” when asked at an investor conference Friday if Comcast-NBC “can make money” on the London Olympics. Roberts said, “I think the answer might very well be yes, but I don't want to say for sure yet. We do feel the advertising market for sports content in particular is very, very desirable.” DirecTV Chair, President & CEO Mike White said that “distributors are making disciplined choices.” White: “We have not put the Longhorn Network on, and have no plans to. We haven't figured out what we're doing with the Pac-12, but we're not going to have 7 channels. I can assure you of that. We don't know what we'll do with the new (Time Warner Cable) RSNs in Los Angeles” (CABLEFAX DAILY, 6/4).
GETTING THE AX: Fuel TV decided to cancel its nightly action sports news show, "Action Sports Plus," meaning 13 L.A.-based production staffers will be out of a job at the end of the month. Fox made the decision based on ratings, which never took hold for the show. The Fox-owned cable channel is in 36 million homes. "Since introducing UFC programming in January, Fuel TV has grown its audience more than any other ad-supported cable network this year," Fox Sports said via e-mail. "Unfortunately, not every show has built on that success, and 'Action Sports Plus,' having not developed the viewership necessary to sustain it, has been canceled. It will go off the air at the end of June" (John Ourand, THE DAILY).
RUNNING WILD: The TAMPA BAY TIMES reported San Diego-based Competitor Group Inc. has acquired Women's Running magazine, the Lady Speed Stick Women's Half Marathon Series and WomensRunning.com, "all founded by Dawna Stone" in St. Petersburg. Terms of the acquisitions "were not disclosed." But CGI said it would use the Women's Running assets to build "the largest participatory platform in the world dedicated to female athletes." Stone will join CGI "as a consultant and media contributor" (TAMBABAY.com, 6/1).
