38 replies to this topic

[Derek21]

http://www.usatoday....05-tv-nhl_x.htm


USATODAY.com - NHL ratings sag; rights for new TV deal could, too


NHL ratings sag; rights for new TV deal could, tooBy Rudy Martzke, USA TODAY
With negotiations for a new TV contract near, sagging playoff ratings are hurting the NHL's position.
Overnight ratings for Saturday's games on ABC, matching Philadelphia-Ottawa and Anaheim-Dallas, fell 23% from last year to a 1.7 average.

National ratings for ABC's first three weeks of the playoffs averaged 1.1, a 21% drop-off. That is the same drop-off experienced during the regular season.

Negotiations are to begin in July for a renewal of ESPN/ABC's five-year, $600 million deal, which expires after the 2003-04 season. The hoped-for rise in ratings that could stave off a 50% drop in rights fees didn't happen.

ESPN's playoff ratings have dipped 14% from last year to a 0.6 cable average, a loss of 50,000 homes a game. Playoff audiences on ESPN2 are off 94,000 homes a game, a 20% ratings decline. That is just brutal. Get ready for no network covering our favorite sport .

"The name American teams (Detroit, Colorado, St. Louis) have had difficulty advancing," said ESPN vice president Mark Shapiro. "A Vancouver-Ottawa Finals would be ominous."

Typical by this jerk. Boohoo. As sad as it sounds, this jerk is probably right.

[DevilMinder]

What about the other leagues. These numbers mean $hit when they aren't compared to something. How did the NBA and the NCAA fair?

['7']

no big surprise here, they've been in steady decline since the late 90's when the NHL regressed into a stale garage league.

I'd like to see how Bettman spin doctors this.

I think we're in for some more gimmicks & silly rule changes.

"MORE EXPANSION! Toothless bumpkins in Mobile need hockey, give 'em the Habs!!!"

the best hockey nowadays is on ESPN Classic

for pure hockey, vancouver-ottawa would probably be the best matchup, too bad it's a ratings killer.

[Zamode]

"MORE EXPANSION! Toothless bumpkins in Mobile need hockey, give 'em the Habs!!!"

A bit of a biased remark about Alabamians/Southerners, don't you think?


for pure hockey, vancouver-ottawa would probably be the best matchup, too bad it's a ratings killer.

It is a ratings killer but I don't think this is the best matchup of quality hockey just because they're Canadian.

Something has to be done to market the sport better. If ESPN's ratings are down, well is that accurate because they only broadcast the Avs & Wings!



The Dire Straits part actually caught my eye first, Derek--you know I am huge fan! MK is healing up well, I hope. The whole tour was cancelled, I was pretty bummed.

[LizDevil30]

I think the whole ratings thing is b.s. Who the hell has one of these stupid boxes that monitors what is being watched? Some stupid toothless hick somewhere with the IQ of a gnat?

I have never known, nor has anyone I know known someone that has one of these Neilson boxes. Does anyone on this board know of anyone?

I don't like my television veiwing being determined and judged by 1% of the population.

[point]

Can anyone explain why Colorado is a ratings draw? The franchise has only been there for -what? 8-10 years? Do they draw fans from Quebec City? Only 600,000 people live in QC.

I don't get this.

[Triumph]

point:

A good deal of sports fans follow their local hockey team because they are local, not because they are a hockey team. So once the Avs moved in and won the Cup, a lot of people were hooked.. as long as the Avs keep winning.

They also play an exciting style with exciting players, have "cool-looking" uniforms, and have had a lot of success lately.

[Z-Man]

Some deal should be made to have CBC available to cable & satellite providers in the US. They have the best NHL coverage available. I cringe when I think about some of the US networks covering the NHL.

[Derek21]

Zam, I knew the Dire Straits thing would catch your eye. Big fan of theirs' too.


When they are doing that horribly nationally and as the fourth sport, it's not a good sign for the league's future .

Why is ESPN going to retain them when they have MLB, NFL and their beloved NBA ?


I know. Who cares if they don't pick up the NHL. If only it were that simple to attract another major network to pick up the league.


Network execs look at the bottom line and those numbers don't bring the sound, "Cha ching" to the premise.


Where does the NHL go from here ?

[halfsharkalligatorhalfman]

a hard cap is the only thing that could save hockey

['7']

maybe they'll go to NBC, that network has been relegated to showing Arena League Football.

Though I have a feeling the AFL gets higher ratings than the NHL.

[Langenbrunner15]

Don't forget.. ESPN is a west coast station... they favor west coast hocke teams and rarely show east coast hockey games.... they only do during the playoffs and even then they don't show many..... MAYBE THATS THE PROBLEM!

[SBT]

They also play an exciting style with exciting players, have "cool-looking" uniforms, and have had a lot of success lately.

You are correct, sir.

[GA Devil]

I think the whole ratings thing is b.s. Who the hell has one of these stupid boxes that monitors what is being watched? Some stupid toothless hick somewhere with the IQ of a gnat?

I have never known, nor has anyone I know known someone that has one of these Neilson boxes. Does anyone on this board know of anyone?

I don't like my television veiwing being determined and judged by 1% of the population.

I actually used to install the boxes in people's homes. Believe me when I say the spectrum of people with the boxes is W-I-D-E. I've been in plastic surgeons and corporate lawyers homes. I've also walked in the middle of a crack deal in center city Philly and everything in between.

[halfsharkalligatorhalfman]

i've seen every devils game except one on espn and abc this year (i live in rochester)

[devilsrule33]

Wow that is awful. TSN AND CBC have been getting over a million viewers for every game.

[rbdf]

It doesn't help that people are locked up all winter, the weather finally starts to break in April and May and you can get out on a saturday or sunday and enjoy some warm weather and sunshine so, hey, let's put hockey on at 3pm - yeah, sure, lots of people would rather stay stuck inside and watch ice hockey in the afternoon for the first couple of warm sunny saturdays than say, get their boats in the water, go fishing, do yardwork, take a walk on the beach, go for a hike, play ball with their kids in the park, makes sense to me.

and as to those neilson boxes, what a crock. the cable company can easily monitor what station every t.v. hooked up to a cable line is tuned to - that would be much more accurate than a "random" sample of people WILLING TO ALLOW such monitoring (doesn't that limit the population and therefore destroy the "random" part)

[GA Devil]

Actually, rbdf, your method omits the non-cable population which, I'm guessing, is a lot more sizeable than you're estimating.

[rbdf]

I believe I know 1 person with the dishnetwork. I know NOBODY using over the air antenna. So out of say 50 (nice round number) different households i've been in in the past say 2 years, 1 had the dish, the other 49 were cable-different companies, different states, but still cable.

How is my method of determining how many households would be monitored by cable companies any better or worse than the neilson survey method of contacting a random sample of people, then requesting permission to put a box in their home for a certain amount of time, then contacting someone else when they say no, and so on and so on until they reach their magic number for the month. And as someone else stated, in my 30 years, I too have yet to meet someone who was at any point in the past a Neilson household.

[GA Devil]

25 to 30 percent of the country views TV sans cable OR DBS.

At least 15,000 households are Nielsen Households. Not all of them have the "People Meter."