AD AGE's Anthony Crupi cited a MoffettNathanson analysis of '15-16 C3 ratings trends for TV programming that revealed sports now account for "more than one-third (34%) of all deliveries of television viewers" in the 18-to-49 demo, making it the "single most significant category by a wide margin." When sports, news, one-off specials and live installments of reality shows are "lumped together, real-time programming now accounts for a staggering 61% of all broadcast GRPs." On a network-by-network basis, NBC "boasts the highest share of GRPs attributable to live programming, with nearly three-quarters (74%) of its targeted ratings owed to sports, news, competition series and musical specials" (ADAGE.com, 6/9).
FOR THE LONGEST TIME: In Houston, David Barron notes a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals "heard arguments this week on Comcast's efforts to recoup" its $100M investment in bankrupt CSN Houston. However, it "could be months before the court rules. The outcome "will not have a direct impact on Root Sports Southwest, the successor network to CSN Houston owned by AT&T" (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 6/10).
TOO LEGIT TO QUIT? SLATE's Jacob Brogan noted TBS' coverage of the ELeague "will likely feel vertiginous, perhaps even queasifying." Though the camera "typically remains locked into the individual players’ first-person perspectives, it constantly shifts from one vantage to the next, the choppy editing offering little sense of narrative continuity." The matches "end and the feed cuts away, revealing an elaborately designed studio located within Turner Sports’ Atlanta campus." Though the mechanics of Counter-Strike are "very hard to follow, the production still looks and feels like that of a conventional sporting event" (SLATE.com, 6/8).
