NHL Winter Classic flops with viewers, fans

Blackhawks get pummeled at Wrigley Field and in the ratings as classic moved to New Year’s Eve It’s fitting that the awful year in Chicago sports was topped off by the Blackhawks playing nothing resembling hockey in the NHL Winter Classic.  As first reported by Sports Media Watch, the NHL Winter Classic’s move a day earlier from New Year’s Day […]

“Field Of Dreams” game scores for Fox – and baseball

Featuring the White Sox and Yankees in Iowa was the highest-rated regular season game since 2005 If you build it, they will come. Well, they came all right – and proved to be a boon for Major League Baseball. The inaugural Field Of Dreams game – set in Dyersville, Iowa (located in the Cedar Rapids-Waterloo-Dubuque market) in a newly-built ballfield […]

Updated post: “Winter Classic” slides in ratings

Despite Blackhawks loss, Winter Classic draws viewers in Chicago, St. Louis – but Chicago numbers down significantly from 2015’s game Celebrity Apprentice return disappoints And other ratings news of note (Editor’s Note: Contains spoilers for Monday’s edition of “The Wall”. This post has been updated from earlier today – T.H..) Though the Chicago Blackhawks didn’t win, the ninth NHL Winter […]

Winter Classic ratings disappoint, but College Football rocks

Despite close game, the seventh annual edition declines in ratings Is the NHL Winter Classic losing its luster? The seventh annual outdoor hockey game between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Washington Capitals drew a 2.3 overnight household rating on New Years’ Day, down 21 percent from last year’s classic between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Detroit Red Wings, played […]

NBC Sports Group, NHL agree to blockbuster deal

Courtesy: Vancouver Sun In what is to believed to be the biggest U.S. television deal in its history, the National Hockey League announced it would continue its relationship with NBC Sports and Versus with a whopping ten-year, $2 billion deal. The pact reflects the increased popularity of the sport, with the Winter Classic and the resurgence of teams like the […]

TCA, Part 9: CBS and The CW

The end is (finally) here: CBS Corp. wrapped up the broadcast portion to the two-week miniseries known as the Winter Television Critics Association tour in Pasadena on Friday with CBS and the network it part-owns with Time Warner, The CW. CBS -The executive session featured programming chief Nina Tassler and addressed the matter surrounding Two And A Half Men star […]

T Dog’s Think Tank – Follow Up: Hawks got with the program

The very first Think Tank yours truly wrote back on November 28, 2006 dealt with the follies of the National Hockey League and its Chicago franchise, and those of broadcasters (over-the-air TV stations and networks), sharing the same tale of missteps and woe. After the Chicago Blackhawks fired head coach Trent Yawney, yours truly wrote this on a comment board […]

Winter Classic shoots and scores in ratings

The third annual NHL Winter Classic which featured an outdoor game played at Wrigley Field between the Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings drew an 2.9 Nielsen overnight household rating for NBC on New Year’s Day, up 12 percent from the 2007 Classic between Buffalo and Pittsburgh. Here in Chicago, WMAQ-TV notched an 11.8 household rating and 21 share – […]

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 […]