Overnight ratings for CBS's coverage of The Masters were 5.9
for Saturday, up 8% from last year, and 9.2 for Sunday, up 4%.
The Bulls-Cavs game on NBC on Sunday received an overnight rating
of 8.0. NBC's 2nd game, the Blazers-Suns, received a 5.5.
Together, NBC's NBA ratings were up 28% from last year. Fox's
NHL Sunday drew a 1.9 national rating, down a "shade" from last
week, but still 27% above ABC's rating last year. Fox's
continuous on-screen game clock carried a sponsor's logo for one
minute a period. The same was done during ABC and ESPN's World
Cup coverage last summer (Michael Hiestand, USA TODAY, 4/11).
MORE ON THE MASTERS: In Washington, Tony Kornheiser asks of
the post-match interviews, "How can CBS give its microphone over
to a guy in a green jacket from Augusta National? What if he
never got around to asking Ben Crenshaw about Harvey Penick?
That is the question that must be asked first; if you're CBS how
can you be sure 'Mr. Ford' is going to get there?" (WASHINGTON
POST, 4/11). In New York, Richard Sandomir writes the interview
of Crenshaw by Augusta Vice Chair Joe Ford "was not CBS' fault,
unless you consider acquiescing to Augusta's every stodgy wish a
liability. But it was a dull denouement to a production that
matched the final round's drama" (N.Y. TIMES, 4/11).
