Yes, it’s still hard to believe, but it’s amazing how the Chicago Blackhawks have changed their fortunes – on and off the ice. At a time when a few NHL teams are struggling financially and the Arena Football League is ceasing operations for the 2009 season, the Blackhawks are thriving at the gate. After years of being in the bottom […]
The Chicago Blackhawks may have a so-so record in the standings, but their ratings were soaring through the roof. During the month of October on Comcast SportsNet, the hockey team saw its ratings grow 150 percent – from a 0.4 Nielsen Media Research household rating in October 2007 to an 1.0 rating in 2008. More importantly, the Hawks ratings among […]
In this week’s edition, we have a renewal, a couple of layoffs, and two firings… T Dog’s Fabulous Four Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill. Say what you want about The CW (I know I have), but last Monday’s duo finished second in its time period among women 18-34 (with One Tree finishing first among women 12-24), doing what the […]
It’s official: The third NHL Winter Outdoor Classic is being held at Wrigley Field here in Chicago featuring the Chicago Blackhawaks and the Detroit Red Wings. The two Original Six rivals will met for the 701st time on January 1, 2009 at Wrigley in a game to be televised by NBC in the United States and possibly by the CBC […]
The longtime voice of the Blackhawks is back. Pat Foley, who was unceremoniously dumped by the team in 2006 in a very unpopular move, has been re-hired as the play-by-play man on the Chicago Blackhawks’ television broadcasts beginning this fall. The move is the latest in fan-friendly overtures the Hawks are making to win back fans after years of alienating […]
The Detroit Red Wings beat the Pittsburgh Penguins last night to win their fourth Stanley Cup in eleven years. But the biggest winner was the NHL. Ratings for last night’s Game 6 were up 17 percent from Game 5, and it was the most watched Game 6 in eight years (between the New Jersey Devils and Dallas Stars in 2000 […]
Ratings for the NHL Conference Finals airing on NBC over the weekend scored ratings increases from year-ago matchups in 2007.Last Saturday’s game between the Detroit Red Wings and Dallas Stars earned a 1.5 household rating and 4 share. While that may not seem like much, it is up 25 percent from 2007’s Buffalo Sabres-Ottawa Senators matchup from a year ago. […]
No surprise here: Blackhawks play-by-play man Dan Kelly was fired by the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday, which could pave the return of Pat Foley, who handled the chores for a little over twenty years before being unceremoniously dropped for Kelly in 2006. Foley currently is the play-by-play man for the Chicago Wolves (Chicago’s AHL franchise.) Even Wolves owner Don Levin […]
The beast known as American Idol has finally fallen – at least in Minneapolis-St. Paul. A Minnesota Wild NHL playoff game topped Idol last Wednesday night with Game 1 of the Western Conference Quarterfinal series against the Colorado Avalanche earning a 11.3 household rating and a 22 household share on independent KSTC-TV with Idol on Fox-owned KMSP-TV nabbing a 10.3/19. […]
The Chicago Blackhawks announced on Tuesday that the team’s entire 82-game schedule will be shown on television. And this is not – I repeat, not – an April Fool’s joke. The Blackhawks signed a deal with WGN-TV on Tuesday, making 20 or so games available to the Tribune-owned station, marking the first time since 1980 games have been made available […]
Here’s something you won’t find on ESPN Classic (and that’s not a bad thing): A classic Blackhawks game featuring the Golden Jet, Bobby Hull. The game from Dec. 11, 1971 features Hull and two other Blackhawk legends – Stan Mikita and goalie Tony Esposito, will air Tuesday at 10:30 p.m. on Comcast SportsNet. Their opponent was the Toronto Maple Leafs […]
It looks like the NBA, NHL, and the Chicago Blackhawks aren’t the only ones having a renaissance – According to Kurt Hanson, radio is having one, too (and the recent AOL-CBS Internet radio streaming deal cements that point.) Maybe radio isn’t dead after all – you know, unlike the Bulls’ current season.
Maybe its the writers’ strike. Maybe its the Cubs’ post-season run. Maybe its the Blackhawks’ resurgence. Maybe its the Celtics and Lakers making noise in the NBA playoff race. Maybe its the hugely successful NFL post-season. Whatever it is, sports is gaining viewers from a year ago, and all sports are benefiting. Even a Cubs exibition game from nine days […]
All right, the strike is finally over. Now comes the toughest task of all: trying to win the viewers back. When Major League Baseball went on strike in 1994 and when the NHL players were locked out twice in the last fifteen years, it hurt both sports tremendously, and some teams are still feeling the effects. Locally, the Chicago White […]
The Chicago Blackhawks finally got on the board with the November 30 home game telecast against the Phoenix Coyotes. The game notched a 1.2 Nielsen rating (fourth item), for Comcast SportsNet, up from the 0.8 rating the last home game it aired on November 11, against the Detroit Red Wings. In other sports ratings news, the game much of the […]
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