“UFC on Fox 3” earned a 1.7 overnight Nielsen rating on Saturday night from 8:00-10:15pm ET, which featured Nate Diaz’ defeat of Jim Miller, marking the lowest rating for a UFC broadacst on Fox to date. The 1.7 overnight is down 37% from the second iteration in January, which featured Rashad Evans' defeat of Nate Davis. Fox’ first UFC broadcast on Nov. 12, which was a one-hour telecast featuring Junior Dos Santos’ defeat of Cain Velasquez for the heavyweight title, earned a 3.5 overnight (Austin Karp, THE DAILY). In Las Vegas, Case Keefer wrote the telecast "excelled on all accounts." There was "hardly a dull moment in any of the four nationally televised bouts, which featured three upsets." With the "increased number of viewers on free network television, the UFC places extra importance on putting its best product forward on FOX." It was "up for debate whether the first two FOX cards played out that way," but there was "no question Saturday" (LAS VEGAS SUN, 5/6).
DON'T TOUCH THAT DIAL: In Baltimore, John-John Williams IV writes "disaster struck" when yesterday's Red Sox-Orioles game went into extra innings and WJZ-CBS "interrupted the broadcast at 7 p.m. to show '60 Minutes.'" Many Orioles fans, "who had been watching the game since it started" at 1:35pm ET, were "miffed Sunday when the game was interrupted." MASN was "carrying the game, and '60 Minutes' was featuring hometown swimmer Michael Phelps -- but the damage had been done." WJZ Creative Director K.C. Robertson said, "Viewers were alerted via a lower-screen crawl before 7 p.m. that those viewers who wanted to see the game's conclusion should switch over to MASN. Those who wanted to see '60 Minutes' particularly the high local interest story on Baltimore Olympian Michael Phelps, were alerted to watch '60 Minutes' on WJZ" (Baltimore SUN, 5/7).
ON THE AIR: In this week's SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, John Ourand writes the NFL Network "is considering launching a live morning studio show this summer and has begun the process of identifying possible hosts and reporters." Specific plans for the morning show "have not been finalized, including its name or its time slot." But NFL execs said that "they hope to get the early morning show ready as soon as July to coincide with the beginning of training camp" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 5/7 issue).
RATINGS DIP? In N.Y., Bob Raissman wrote with Yankees P Mariano Rivera "now going down for at least this season, and other marquee Yankees showing their age," the ratings for the YES Network "could be adversely impacted, but only if all this translates into losing." The combination of "unpopular players and a team struggling to maintain its customary contending play could equate to a ratings shortfall." Raissman: "The flip side is it's still very early in the season" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 5/6).
