ABC drew a 2.9 overnight rating for its first "NBA Saturday Primetime" telecast over the weekend, which featured the Bulls beating the Cavaliers. That figure marks ABC/ESPN's best non-Christmas Day rating for the '15-16 season to date. The game peaked at a 3.3 rating. Cleveland-Akron drew a 19.2 local rating, which is the market's best non-Christmas, regular-season figure since '09. Saturday night marked the Cavaliers' first game since replacing coach David Blatt with assistant Tyronn Lue. Despite many East Coast markets facing heavy snowfall from Winter Storm Jonas on Saturday, all markets reported for Nielsen. The NBA game on Saturday also had competition from Fox' first Premier Boxing Champions telecast, which drew a 1.7 overnight, as well as the U.S. Figure Skating Championships on NBC, which drew a 2.6 rating (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor).
GOOD START: In Tampa, Tom Jones writes ABC/ESPN "did an outstanding job covering the events" surrounding Cavaliers coach David Blatt's firing" during Bulls-Cavs. By far the "best moments were provided by game analysts Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy, the latter of whom proved once again that he is the best sports analyst in the business." Jones: "ABC's NBA coverage is among the best in sports, and any time Jeff Van Gundy is talking, I'm all in" (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 1/25). In N.Y., Bob Raissman asked of the Saturday night package, "While the games are attractive, what will make this production different?" Instead of "bringing in a fresh-faced crew," ESPN is going with its regular team of play-by-play announcer Mike Breen, Van Gundy and Jackson. Raissman: "Will the Saturday night telecasts have a different look?" These Saturday telecasts also "are not in an exclusive window," as other NBA games are "airing at the same time." This new window "could wind up being ratings-challenged" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 1/24).
