[Newsbot]

Title: Cup Final a ratings fizzle for CBC
Category: Sports
Posted By: Alta_redneck
Date: 2009-06-09 07:08:22
Canadian

[Alta_redneck]

Maybe more people are like me and are tuning in the games on NBC ( when they carry them ). At one time I thought Jim Hughson was the best play x play guy going. Now I find him boring and unemotional with his call of the game. His only interest it seems is to say slap pass and to be able to use the whole name, Valtteri Filppula when ever he touches the puck.

I never thought I�d say this, but as long as the Leafs aren�t playing, give me Bob Cole. I need a few, �Oh bady what a play.� The sermon Hughson gives out each night puts me to sleep.

[Regina]

I think Bob Cole and Harry Neale are the best combo. Bob's eyes may not be as good as they once were but I prefer his style. Plus no one has better one liners than Harry Neale.

[Alta_redneck]

Regina Regina:

I think Bob Cole and Harry Neale are the best combo. Bob's eyes may not be as good as they once were but I prefer his style. Plus no one has better one liners than Harry Neale.

Yes, as long as the Leafs aren't playing.

[Regina]

Blah, blah, blah.......

[Choban]

Well, for me first they wern't carrying all the Canadian teams at the beginning of the playoffs, now I just don't care who wins so I don't watch.

[stemmer]

Harry Neale.... Hockey's Grouch Marx... Love Harry... where is he? Retired?

[Regina]

Nope. He left HNIC to do colour for the Sabers.

[bootlegga]

That's my line of thinking too. I think ratings would have been higher if two really other teams were in it (like San Jose and Washington). As it stands, it just looks exactly like last year's finals.

[jason700]

Question about ratings... do they only count people that watch the whole game, last few minutes, or just tune in at any time? Considering game 5 was a 5-0 score, I can see alot of people not watching the whole thing.

Also, as for game 4 getting less viewers than last year, last year's game 4 was an elimination match.

[DerbyX]

Apparently NBC has teamed up with the NHL to screw fans holding massive viewing parties in and outside of the areans.

$1:

One of the most jarring aspects of the Stanley Cup finals, other than the ease with which the Red Wings dispatched the Penguins on Sunday night to push the series to 3-2, has been NBC’s hardball with fans in Detroit and Pittsburgh. For the duration of the playoffs, both teams have been able to hold massive viewing parties in and outside their arenas. It was such a wonderful, organic expression of the communal nature of fandom that it was basically destined to be ruined by business in short order.

(Thousands of fans watching the game with each other? Nope, can’t have this!)
And lo, in stepped NBC, stopping the broadcasts. As HOCKEYBUZZ.COM reported, initially, they blamed the NHL, despite the NHL’s assertion that that was quite not the case. Then came the truth, that it was a business decisions (all the crappy ones are), and their “business is ratings driven.” CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS has the, ahem, money quote:

A near-sellout of Joe Louis could shave a ratings point off the local television ratings measurement, and such ratings are used to establish advertising rates.
So to that, if the all-important ratings model can’t deal with 8-10 thousand people watching a show in one place on one screen, you know what? The ratings model is completely worthless. Seriously. How can NBC or Nielsen not figure out what to do with a giant honking party of some of the most hardcore fans all watching one screen? Is that really a deal-breaker?

And if so, if they’re really curious as to what the ratings would look like if everyone stays home, away from the shared community aspect from which most of the value of a ticket to a game is derived, there’s a really easy answer to all of this. You ready? Dick Ebersol, you taking notes?

All NBC has to do is announce that in exchange for showing the game outside both arenas, attending fans have to fill out a simple, anonymous survey about where they would otherwise watch a game (their place or someone else’s), with how many people, and whatever other information the network needs to most closely approximate what ratings would look like. Use that and Nielsen data to extrapolate what the final ratings would be with that many eyes on a TV, and adjust. That’s it. Easy.
This is a rare, rare opportunity for the NHL and NBC. At no other point are they ever going to be able to get this kind of a free pool of television watchers from whom they can mine valuable demographic information. Forcing them back into their homes and away from a group of thousands of like-minded, passionate fans for the sake of moving a needle one or two points does the city, fanbase, and team a disservice. It’s so easy to work around. Figure it out.

[sandorski]

Choban Choban:

Well, for me first they wern't carrying all the Canadian teams at the beginning of the playoffs, now I just don't care who wins so I don't watch.

Yup. Canucks are gone, no longer have interest in who Wins.

[ryan29]

people likely tuned out on the saturday game cause it wasn't even close , like after the second period it was all over so many likely tuned out after that as it just wasn't interesting .
once the results not in doubt people tune out .

[herbie]

It's JUNE.
Who the hell in Western Canada even cares unless a Canadian team is in it?
CBC Cottage Country is more relevant...