- FOX finished its regular season coverage of Major League Baseball with solid ratings on Saturday. Regional coverage featuring Cubs/Brewers drew a 2.6 overnight rating, up 37% from a 1.9 on the comparable Saturday last year. The 2.6 overnight is the best for the final Saturday of the baseball season since 2005, when Yankees/Red Sox drew a 5.4.
- Ratings dropped for college football games over the weekend. ABC drew a 3.6 overnight for Saturday Night Football, off 12% from a 4.1 last year. Ratings dropped even further for the early game on ABC, as the 3.5 overnight for regional coverage featuring Wisconsin/Michigan was off 27% from a 4.8 in ’07. Meanwhile, CBS drew a 2.6/6 for Tennessee/Auburn, down 4% from a 2.7 for Florida State/Alabama in a later timeslot last year. Finally, NBC drew a 2.0 overnight for Purdue/Notre Dame, down 5% from a 2.1 for the network’s third Notre Dame telecast last year, which took place in October.
- As in the previous two weeks, ratings improved for NASCAR on ABC, but remained well below par. The Camping World RV 400 drew a 3.1 overnight rating on ABC Sunday, up 11% from a 2.8 for the LifeLock 400 last year, but tied as the second-lowest overnight for a NASCAR race on broadcast in the past four years.
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...
