On the penultimate weekend of the regular season, NBC tied its lowest NHL rating since reacquiring rights to the league. In other news, FOX had a bad week for Major League Baseball coverage, and PGA Tour golf had mixed results on CBS.
Another Rough Week For NHL on NBC
- Last Sunday’s Devils/Rangers NHL regular season game drew a 0.5 U.S. rating and 800,000 viewers on NBC, the lowest rated and least-viewed game of the season on the network. The previous lows were a 0.6 and 902,000 viewers for Blues/Red Wings two weeks earlier. Overall, the 0.5 is tied as the lowest for the NHL on NBC since the network resumed airing games in 2006. Four out of the last six NHL telecasts on NBC have earned fewer than one million viewers. (Weekend numbers from Sports Business Daily)
More Declines For MLB on FOX
- Regional Major League Baseball action featuring Tigers/Angels in 51% of markets drew a 1.3 final rating and 1.9 million viewers on FOX last Saturday, down 41% in ratings from coverage featuring Yankees/Red Sox last year (2.2), and down 13% and 17%, respectively, from coverage featuring Mets/Braves in 2011 (1.5, 2.3M). So far this season, all three MLB telecasts on FOX have had declines in ratings from both last year and 2011. (Weekend numbers from Sports Business Daily)
Mixed Numbers For PGA on CBS
- Final round coverage of the PGA Tour RBC Heritage earned a 1.7 final rating on CBS last Sunday afternoon, up a tick from last year (1.6), but down 11% from 2011 (1.9). On Saturday, third round coverage drew a 1.0 — down 17% from last year (1.2), and down a tick from 2011 (1.1). (Weekend numbers from Sports Business Daily)
