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Strong CBS Windows Help NFL To Its First Sunday Ratings Bump For '14 Season

Despite another week of negative PR for the NFL, the league saw its first Sunday overnight ratings bump for the ’14 regular season. NBC and Fox saw declines for their respective windows yesterday, but CBS saw big gains for early regional and late national window coverage, giving the league a 7% gross ratings bump for the four windows compared to Week 3 last season. A Broncos-Seahawks Super Bowl XLVIII rematch on CBS -- broadcast to 89% of the U.S. -- led the weekend with a 16.9 overnight, up 16% from last year, when the net had Colts-49ers in 81% of markets. The national window peaked at a 21.0 rating from 7:30-8:00pm ET, when the game was in overtime. CBS also saw a big gain for its early regional window, which featured Texans-Giants and Raiders-Patriots, among other games. That window drew an 11.1 overnight, up 44% from a 7.7 rating last year. NBC drew a 12.3 overnight for the Steelers’ 37-19 win over the Panthers on "SNF," down 9% from Bears-Steelers in Week 3 last year and marking the lowest-rated Week 3 "SNF" telecast since Colts-Cardinals in '09. The game drew a 38.9 local rating in Pittsburgh and a 31.1 rating in Charlotte. With Broncos-Seahawks bleeding well into primetime, it is unknown at deadline whether NBC won primetime with "SNF." Fox drew a 12.2 overnight for its singleheader coverage in Week 3, which was highlighted by 49ers-Cardinals, Redskins-Eagles and Packers-Lions. That figure is down 8% from Week 3 last year (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor).

NFL WEEK 3: SUNDAY OVERNIGHT RATINGS
NET
'14 TELECAST
RAT.
'13 TELECAST
RAT.
% +/-
Fox
(single)
12.2
(single)
13.3
-8.3%
CBS
(regional)
11.1
(regional)
7.7
44.2%
CBS
Broncos-Seahawks (89%)
16.9
Colts-49ers (81%)
14.6
15.8%
NBC
Steelers-Panthers
12.3
Bears-Steelers
13.5
-8.9%

HERE THE BUFFALO ROAM
: In San Diego, Tom Krasovic writes when Pro Football HOFer Jim Kelly yesterday joined CBS' three-man broadcast crew during Chargers-Bills, it "was as if neither the Chargers nor the game itself continued to exist for the next seven minutes." The booth, which included former NFLer Steve Tasker, "talked about Bills history, recent Bills events and Kelly's thoughts" on Bills QB EJ Manuel. Krasovic: "It was a bison-lovefest." Kelly "belonged in the booth, for sure." His "heroic fight against cancer is a national story." But CBS "had aired an excellent pregame feature on Kelly," and a "halftime interview with him would've been terrific" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 9/22).

EYE EXAM NEEDED? In Baltimore, David Zurawik writes, "I spent way too much of Sunday afternoon screaming at the TV screen and the fourth-rate coverage from CBS" during Ravens-Browns. When Ravens TE Dennis Pitta "went down, there was nothing more important than knowing what happened to him." Yet there "was no one on the sidelines." Zurawik added, "The audio mix was awful. I love to hear crowd noise, but it’s not enough to just crank it way up to the point where you can barely hear the analyst even when he’s talking (almost shouting) at the top of his voice" (Baltimore SUN, 9/22).

SIMMER DOWN: In Denver, Dusty Saunders notes CBS' Phil Simms was in his regular analyst position during Broncos-Seahawks, "despite more than 42,000 Facebook online pleas to remove him from covering" Broncos games. Protesters claim that Simms "has an anti-Broncos attitude possibly based on a past off-the-field negative relationship with Peyton Manning." Saunders: "You can dislike Simms' occasional confusing style, but the anti-Broncos charge doesn't ring true. He's not my favorite NFL analyst. ... Simms often provides too much verbiage in key game situations." Nonetheless, Broncos fans "seem to be on edge this season," with online criticism even "occasionally focused on NBC's Cris Collinsworth, the best in the business" (DENVER POST, 9/22).

SHADY MOVE: THE MMQB's Peter King writes, "Great camera work -- I mean, absolutely great -- by the Fox crew in Philadelphia, showing LeSean McCoy," who took a hard hit to the head during yesterday's game versus the Redskins, "grabbing unsuccessfully for his helmet, which an equipment guy was keeping from him." Fox then "had McCoy arguing strenuously to stay on the field instead of being taken to the locker room" (MMQB.SI.com, 9/22).

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