- Not surprisingly, Team USA’s victory over Spain in the Olympic basketball gold medal game did very well in Los Angeles, where stars Kobe Bryant (USA) and Pau Gasol (Spain) play for the Lakers. From 11:30 PM-1:30 AM, the game drew a 13.3 rating in the L.A. market, with a whopping 39% of televisions in use tuned to the game. The game also did very well in the Bay Area, drawing a 9.6 rating and a 34 share in the San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose market.
- On a low rated Saturday night and opposite the Olympics, ratings for NASCAR on ESPN fell by double-digits compared to last year. The Sharpie 500 drew a 3.0 national rating and 5 million viewers, down 14% and 13% from a 3.5 with 5.7 million last year. Still, the race managed a solid fourth-place finish for the week on cable behind The Closer on TNT, The Cheetah Girls on Disney, and Law and Order: Criminal Intent on USA.
- The first event of the FedEx Cup held up fairly well despite competition from the Olympics. The final round of The Barclays drew a 1.8 overnight rating on CBS Sunday, down 14% from a 2.1 last year. By comparison, overnight ratings for the final rounds of the PGA Championship and The Wyndham Championship were off 56% and 31% opposite the Olympics.
Ted Turner, whose cable business transformed TV sports, dies
Ted Turner, the media mogul and team owner whose TBS "SuperStation" helped pave the way the era of cable...
