ESPN's cable TV channels "are attracting a larger
audience for the Women's World Cup (WWC) than they did for
NHL regular-season games," according to Scott Newman of
BLOOMBERG NEWS. ESPN's five WWC games "have generated an
aggregate rating" of a 0.82, or "about" 623,660 HHs. This
season's NHL games on ESPN averaged a 0.59, or "about"
450,760 homes. Analysts "had projected" that the WWC would
attract TV audiences "similar to ones generated by the NHL
during its regular season." ESPN VP/Programming Steve
Risser: "The ratings [for women's soccer] have outpaced our
expectations." Through 17 games, WWC matches on ESPN2 have
averaged a 0.51, compared to the NHL's regular-season
average of a 0.32. This past Sunday, ESPN2 generated a 1.96
rating, or an audience "of about" 1.26 million HHs, for its
coverage of the U.S.-North Korea match (BLOOMBERG, 6/30).
MORE FREE TV? In St. Louis, Tom Wheatley wondered why
all the U.S. women's games are not available on free TV.
Wheatley: "Paying for TV sports is un-American. And so is
this snub." The U.S. women's team is the "classiest team in
the" WWC, "and the networks show summer reruns. It's almost
enough to make a TV chauvinist call his cable company" (ST.
LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 6/29). For more, see (#26).
