Richard Sandomir examines the "glut" in college basketball
TV coverage, as conferences hit "hyperdrive" in making deals with
networks and regional carriers and syndicators "to insure that
they can put some of their teams on TV all of the time." The
result of the "glut," however, is that average ratings for
national carriers are down or static. ABC is down from a 2.3 to
1.9; CBS from a 2.3 to 2.1; ESPN is even at 1.2; ESPN2 is down to
a 0.2 from an 0.3. Only NBC, after two games, is up to a 2.7
from 2.0. CBS has paid between $12-13M for a regular season
college basketball package which "leads to the men's tournament."
ABC pays no rights fees, as Raycom buys the time from ABC. But
Tom Petitti, VP/Programming for ABC Sports, "rebutted the notion
that the financial arrangement makes the network care less than
if it paid millions of dollars." Petitti: "We want everything to
be as highly rated as it can. But there's a lot on" (N.Y. TIMES,
2/13). Fox announced they had a 2.5 rating for its NHL coverage
last weekend, topping college basketball telecasts (USA TODAY,
2/13).
