- Friday night’s Heat/Lakers game, won by the Lakers on a game winner by Kobe Bryant, drew a 1.6/4 U.S. rating and 2.5 million viewers on ESPN. Numbers for last year’s comparable Raptors/Jazz game were unavailable. Earlier in the night, Bulls/Cavaliers drew as 1.2/2 U.S. rating and 1.9 million viewers, up 20% and 28%, respectively, from Blazers/Celtics last year (1.0, 1.5 mil). (pifeedback.com)
- The incessant coverage of Tiger Woods and his various personal issues did not translate to bigger numbers for his tournament. NBC drew a 1.0 overnight rating for final round coverage of the Chevron World Challenge on Sunday, down 29% from a 1.4 last year, and down a whopping 52% from a 2.1 in ’07. Third round coverage on Saturday drew a 0.6, down 54% from last year, and 73% from ’07. (Sports Business Daily)
- Saturday’s Kentucky/North Carolina game, the first college basketball game of the season on CBS drew a 1.6 overnight rating. Last year, CBS opened its season with a double-header, drawing overnight ratings of 1.3 and 1.5. (Sports Business Daily)
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...
