ESPN, TNT Continue Ratings Increase During Conference Finals
The Biz of Basketball :: Part of the Business of Sports Network —
ESPN and TNT have both seen a significant increase in viewership during their coverage of the NBA Playoffs this season, specifically in the Conference Finals. As reported by Sports Media Watch: Eight of the ten most watched programs on cable for the month of May (April 28-May 25) were NBA Playoff games. The most watched program of the month was Game 7 of the Spurs/Hornets series, which drew 6.5 million viewers. TNT won the month of May in prime time, and saw its ratings increase 10% from last year. ESPN finished fourth, with ratings up 25%. The final two games of the Western Conference Finals ...
Ron Artest Plans to Interview Brawl Instigator
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Sacramento Kings’ forward Ron Artest has recently created his own personal segment on KHTK, a local radio station in Sacramento. He calls it “Radio Ron-Ron”, and uses this platform to discuss any and all hot topics. He tested his interview skills with Kings’ center Spencer Hawes last week, and is scheduled to interview ESPN’s Marc Stein next week. After that, he plans to interview John Green – the Detroit fan who threw a cup of beer at Artest during the “Malice at the Palace” brawl in 2004. As reported by the Sacramento Bee: Apparently, Green has already been tracked down and appears to be on board with ...
'80s Flashback: Celtics Beat Pistons, Will Meet Lakers in Finals
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Paul Pierce scored a very efficient 27 points (shooting 8-12 from the field and 10-13 from the free throw line) as the Boston Celtics rallied from a 70-60 fourth quarter deficit to beat the Detroit Pistons 89-81 in game six of the Eastern Conference Finals. The Celtics will face the L.A. Lakers in the NBA Finals in a matchup of the two most storied franchises in league history. Ray Allen added 17 points and six rebounds; he did most of his damage in the first quarter but in these tight, defensive struggles every point counts. Kevin Garnett got off to a woeful start, making just 2 of his first 10 field goal attempts, but he anchored Boston's defense ...
Joe Axelson, Former NBA Exec That Helped Move Kings, Dead at Age 80
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Joe Axelson, the former front office executive and general manager, first for the Cincinnati Royals, and then remained with the franchise when it moved to Kansas City-Omaha, where they became the Kings, and then traveled to the West Coast to Sacramento, has died at the age of 80. Cause of death has not yet been determined. As reported by The AP: Over his career with the Royals-Kings franchise, he was responsible for some controversial trades, including swapping Oscar Robertson to Milwaukee in 1970 after Robertson squabbled with coach Bob Cousy and asked to leave Cincinnati. The Royals had ...
TNT's NBA Playoff Coverage Sees 14% Increase From Year Prior
The Biz of Basketball :: Part of the Business of Sports Network —
Turner Network Television (TNT) claimed victory with its 2008 NBA Playoffs coverage which featured 41 games in 40 nights that averaged a 2.6 US rating (2,943,000 households), up 14 percent in average total viewers (3,801,000) over the 43 games the year prior. ...
Ad Sales May Increase for NBA Finals on ABC
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Walt Disney Co., which owns ABC and ESPN, may boost ad sales from their broadcast of the NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers, according to a UBS Securities LLC analyst. As reported by the Bloomberg News: Playoff ratings this season are 31 percent higher than last year on ABC and 28 percent higher on ESPN, analyst Michael Morris wrote today in a report. Ratings gains will bolster ESPN, which gets the ad sales, ABC and its Los Angeles station KABC, he wrote. The four most recent finals featuring the Lakers had an average 11.4 rating, almost double that of the 2007 finals between the San ...
