A record 107.4 million fans watched telecasts of Sept. 8-12 NFL games across CBS, Fox, NBC and ESPN, marking the league's most-viewed opening weekend ever. Three of the games topped 25 million average viewers -- 27.2 million for Saints-Packers NFL Kickoff last Thursday night on NBC, 25.8 million for Fox's Sunday national window featuring Giants-Redskins and 25.8 million for NBC's Cowboys-Jets "SNF" game. These telecasts represent the three most-watched sporting events since February's Super Bowl XLV. In addition, NFL Network set a number of records over the opening week. The net's "NFL GameDay Morning" Sunday pregame show averaged 455,000 viewers from 9:00am-1:00pm ET, marking the show's best audience ever and a 23% jump from 370,000 viewers for the opening Sunday show last year. NFL Net also drew a record 391,000 viewers late on Sunday night for its "NFL GameDay Final." The Panthers-Cardinals replay on Tuesday night also drew 298,000 viewers, marking the most-viewed regular-season "NFL Replay" since the show debuted in '06 (THE DAILY). DAILY VARIETY's Rick Kissell wrote under the header, "NBC Rolls As Pro Football Returns." NBC's opening two games of the NFL season "each delivered nearly an 11 rating among adults 18-49," helping the network to a weekly demo average that "was the biggest for any network since March" (DAILY VARIETY, 9/14). ESPN’s Mike Greenberg said, “It is now official: The work stoppage was an irrelevance. In fact, if anything … the free agent frenzy right before training camp started probably was the best thing they’ve ever done” (“Mike & Mike in the Morning,” ESPN Radio, 9/14).
CAN YOU TAKE ME HIGHER? Following ESPN's deal to "keep the NFL on its network at an average price tag of $1.9 billion a year," CBS President & CEO Leslie Moonves said that he "also anticipated paying more, but hopefully nothing approaching what the sports cable channel will be shelling." Speaking at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference in Beverly Hills on Tuesday, Moonves said, "I hope it's not the increase they paid," referring to ESPN (LATIMES.com, 9/14). Meanwhile, in Sacramento, Tom Couzens notes on the heels of ESPN's extension, small cable operators contend that "all consumers are paying more to watch TV as the additional costs are passed on to TV providers and consumers." Cable providers are "asking Congress to push ESPN to allow them to put the sports network on a sports tier, paid for only by folks who want it -- much like HBO and other premium channels." American Cable Association President & CEO Matt Polka said, "There's no doubt that sports programming is very popular. But people should be able to choose whether or not they want to pay for it on a monthly basis" (SACRAMENTO BEE, 9/15).
UNIVISION QUEST: Univision and the NFL announced a new three-year deal through '14 that expands on their preexisting partnership. Univision becomes the official Hispanic media partner of select NFL events surrounding the next three Super Bowls in Indianapolis, New Orleans and New York/New Jersey. It also retains its role as the official Spanish-language radio broadcaster of the NFL. Univision's TV network will continue to produce NFL segments in its "Republica Deportiva" and "Contacto Deportivo" sports shows (Univision). This comes after the NFL last month extended its rights deal with Telemundo though '13, including exclusive rights to the "Sunday Night Football" game.
