Comcast RSNs Off To Quick Ratings Starts With NHL Playoffs
CSN Chicago Sets Record With Blackhawks, While Bay Area Delivers Best Game One With Sharks
Mike Reynolds -- Multichannel News, 4/17/2009 6:01:11 PM
The results on the ice might not have been favorable, but the Comcast regional sports networks covering the National Hockey League playoffs skated to strong Nielsen results with their coverage of four series openers.
Comcast SportsNet Chicago scored its best marks ever with a Blackhawks game averaging a 4.45 household rating and 155,400 households within the Chicago DMA for its coverage of the club's 3-2 overtime win against the Calgary Flames Thursday night.
The ratings, according to Nielsen Media Research data, peaked at 5.9, with over 206,000 households during the 9:45 p.m. quarter-hour. Officials at the RSN, said it was not only Comcast SportsNet Chicago's top Blackhawks' telecast, but was the team's best since April 26, 1994, when it faced the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 5 of a first-round series on SportsChannel.
In San Jose where the Sharks lost 2-0 to the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, Comcast SportsNet Bay Area drove a 4.2 household rating and 101,000 households on April 16. That was the network's best Game 1 playoff performance ever, nearly doubling the 2.2 mark for the April 11, 2007 Sharks-Nashville Predators first round telecast. Moreover, it ranks third all-time for the RSN with the franchise, trailing only the 5.9 for Sharks-Dallas Stars game on May 4, 2008 and the 4.6 for Sharks-Flames on April 22, 2008.
In Washington, Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic netted a 3.3 household rating and 76,000 households in the D.C. DMA during the team's 4-3 loss to the New York Rangers on April 15. Peaking with a 4.6 rating and 105,800 households in the 9:30 p.m. quarter hour, the performance dwarfed the Capitals' 1.1 regular-season average, which represented a 65% improvement over the 2007-08 campaign.
In Philadelphia, where the Flyers took it on the chin from the Pittsiburgh Penguins, 4-1 on Wednesday, the game drew a 4.5 for Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia, an 88% surge from the RSN's 2.4 regular-season average.
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