BCS Championship, Rose Bowl Top List Of Most-Viewed Cable TV Sports Telecasts In '12

The BCS National Championship game once again topped the list of the year’s most-viewed sports telecasts on cable TV, with the Alabama-LSU matchup averaging a 14.0 rating and 24.2 million viewers. The Auburn-Oregon BCS title game led all cable sports telecasts last year with a 15.3 rating and 27.3 million viewers. Taking the No. 2 spot once again was the Rose Bowl on ESPN, which drew a 10.2 rating and 17.6 million viewers for Oregon against Wisconsin. Those two games have topped the list of most-watched cable sports telecasts since the BCS games moved to cable TV in ’11. The 16 “MNF” telecasts to date occupy most of the spots in the top 25. This year’s most-viewed “MNF” to date was the Oct. 1 Cowboys-Bears matchup, which drew a 10.5 rating and 16.6 million viewers. The most-viewed non-football telecast on cable was ESPN's coverage of Game 7 of the Heat-Celtics NBA Eastern Conference Finals on June 9. That game ranked 10th overall with a 7.7 rating and 13.3 million viewers, while marking the NBA’s most-viewed game ever on cable TV. ESPN led all nets with 24 of the top 25 most-viewed cable TV telecasts. Only TNT’s Thunder-Spurs NBA Western Conference Finals Game Six cracked the top 25. See tomorrow’s issue for a ranking of the most-viewed sports telecasts on broadcast TV.