NBCSN drew 956,000 viewers for the season-opening Flyers-Bruins game on Wednesday night, marking the best audience on record for an NHL regular-season game on cable TV (records date back to '93). The game also set live streaming records. The second game of the doubleheader, Sharks-Kings, averaged 446,000 viewers. Combined, the doubleheader averaged 679,000 viewers, also a record for NBCSN. Philadelphia delivered a 4.68 local rating for Flyers-Bruins, marking the net's second-best regular-season Flyers game ever in the market. L.A.'s 1.13 local rating for Sharks-Kings also was the net's second-best regular-season Kings game ever in the market (NBC).
NORTH OF THE BORDER: Rogers Sportsnet kicked off its new Canadian national broadcast package on Wednesday, averaging a network-record 2.01 million viewers for Canadiens-Maple Leafs. The game also was the No. 1 program of the night across Canada. The viewership figure topped Sportsnet's previous No. 1 audience -- the '13 Indians-Blue Jays -- which drew 1.44 million viewers (Rogers). However, the NATIONAL POST's Sean Fitz-Gerald notes Sportsnet's audience was down 14% from the same season-opening matchup on the CBC last year on a Tuesday night. CBC for last year's Canadiens-Maple Leafs opener averaged 2.332 million viewers. Rogers Sportsnet is "available in 8.2 million Canadian homes," while the CBC "would likely be in all but a few" of Canada's 12 million TV homes (NATIONAL POST, 10/10).
