Pat Foley returns to Blackhawks

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 […]

Hockeytown rules

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 […]

Red Wings – Penguins scores in triple overtime

Last night’s Stanley Cup Final triple-overtime thriller (Game 5) between the Detroit Red Wings and the Pittsburgh Penguins on NBC was a clear winner last night (regardless of what anyone says) with ratings the best since the 2002 Stanley Cup Finals, when the Red Wings played the Carolina Hurricanes. Overall, the game averaged a 4.3 household rating and a 8 […]

Wings beat Pistons in TV ratings in Detroit

The Stanley Cup Finals continue to roll on the Motor City with the Red Wings vs. Sid the Kid. Game 3 of the Detroit Red Wings-Pittsburgh Penguins series on NBC beat the competing Game 5 of the Eastern Conference NBA Finals between the Detroit Pistons and Boston Celtics on Wednesday in Detroit, with hockey getting an 18.8 rating and 29 […]

The NHL is back on track

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. […]

There’s something about playoff season

Ratings for both the NHL and the NBA playoffs (despite the lack of the Knicks and Bulls) are up from last year, according to Nielsen Media Research. Ratings for the NBA playoffs are up 20 percent on TNT with a more than 30 percent increase in key demos, and is up 47 percent on ESPN, with a 79 percent jump […]

NBC, NHL agree to one-year deal extension

And both ought to thank Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins (and the Outdoor Classic in Buffalo) for this, as well as other young upcoming stars in the league (like the Blackhawks’ Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews.) While ratings are still low, they are up 33 percent in the key male 18-49 demo and up 11 percent in households. NBC […]

Blackhawks sign with WGN-TV

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 […]

Radio’s Renaissance

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.

Sports ratings going up, up, and away

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 […]

Will the viewers come back?

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 […]

Sports Box

Giants win net Giant ratings Wow! The NFC Championship Game pitting the New York Giants at the Green Bay Packers notched a whopping 54 million viewers, making it the highest-rated non-Super Bowl program since the 1998 Seinfeld finale, which drew 76.3 million viewers. In Milwaukee, the game notched a 58.5 household rating and a 78 share for Fox-owned (and soon […]

We’re Back

Happy New Year! This is The T Dog Media Blog. Welcome Back. Took a New Year’s breather, so let’s catch up on what’s been going on: – Giants-Patriots draws large audience: The NFL triplecast of the New England Patriots – New York Giants game Saturday Night, in which the Patriots beat the Giants to become the first team in NFL […]

Gumbel sucked as much as game did

The play-by-play of last night’s Bears-Redskins game on the NFL Network (broadcast locally on My Network TV affiliate WPWR-TV) was about as bad as the play on the field. Bryant “Kermit the Frog” Gumbel was quite awful, as usual. Analyst Cris Collinsworth was sharp, and delivered the best line of the night, summing up the Bears: “There’s professional football and […]