FSN Pittsburgh Sets Another RSN Ratings Mark With NHL

Game 7 Penguins-Capitals Nets A 25 Rating In DMA

Mike Reynolds -- Multichannel News, 5/14/2009 5:22:30 PM

Fans and FSN Pittsburgh executives had plenty to cheer about last night with the Penguins' Game 7- triumph over the Washington Capitals.
The home team is now headed to the National Hockey League's Eastern Conference final, awaiting the winner of the Boston Bruins-Carolina Hurricanes Game 7 encounter tonight. As for FSN Pittsburgh, it supplanted its own Nielsen record from Game 6 of Penguins-Capitals -- the decisive contest established a new ratings record for an RSN with the puck sport.
Pittsburgh's 6-2 win netted a 25.0 local rating and 287,000 households in the Pittsburgh DMA on May 13, according to Nielsen Media Research data. That topped the 24.2 average for Game 6 on May 11.
Wednesday's game peaked at a 31.4 rating, 361,000 households in the 9:15 p.m. quarter hour, said officials at Liberty Sports, which owns the RSN.
The game was the most-watched program in the Pittsburgh market on Wednesday night, beating out CBS's Criminal Minds (a 12.7 rating) CBS's CSI: NY (a 12.3), Fox's American Idol (an 11.01) and the season finale of ABC's Lost (a 7.4).
Meanwhile, on CSN Mid-Atlantic, the Capitals-Penguins game earned a 5.5 local rating and 129,000 households in the DC DMA, making it the net's highest NHL rating of the season in the market, according to officials at the RSN. In the Baltimore DMA, the decisive game skated to a 3.4 local rating.
Over its four Penguins-Capitals telecasts, CSN Mid-Atlantic averaged a 4.7 local rating and 110,000 households in Washington and a 2.6 mark in Baltimore. Together, the four playoff games averaged 140,000 in the D.C.-Charm City metroplex., said CSN officials.