Latest from Next TV in Angels

TBS ALDS Doubleheader Averages 4.1M Viewers

Mike Reynolds — Fri, 03 Oct 2014 19:15:00 +0000

TBS’s American League Division Series opening doubleheader averaged more than 4 million viewers on Thursday.

The network averaged 4.1 million watchers on Oct. 2 with its presentation of Baltimore’s bashing of Detroit and Kansas City’s latest extra inning triumph, this time over the Los Angeles Angels, according to Nielsen fast nationals data. That was up 32% from the 3.1 for the comparable day of the 2013 MLB postseason, when the National League Division Series twinbill of Pittsburgh-St. Louis and LA Dodgers-Atlanta averaged 3.1 million watchers in the same windows.

The junior circuit doubleheader, which squared off against CBS/NFL Network’s Thursday Night Football mismatch between Green Bay and Minnesota and ESPN’s college football doubleheader that included No. 2 Oregon losing to Arizona in the late-starting nightcap, delivered a 2.6 U.S. rating, up 30% from a 2.0 mark in 2013.

The ALDS coverage gave TBS night in cable, based on metered market ratings, and drove it to a 25% jump among persons 18 to 49 and 16% with guys of that age.

Game 1 between the Orioles and Tigers averaged a 2.5 rating, up 47% from a 1.7 for Cards-Pirates and 4 million total viewers, up 54% from 2.6 million last year. The telecast peaked with a 3.3 rating and 5.4 million total viewers in the 8:15 p.m. quarter hour (ET).

Locally, the telecast posted a 17.3 HH rating in the Baltimore DMA and a 16.0 in Detroit.

The starter of the other ALDS, in which the Royals prevailed 3-2 over the Angels in the 11th, averaged 4.2 million total viewers, up 20% from the 3.5 million viewers for the network’s Dodgers-Braves telecast last year. Thursday’s nightcap scored a 17% gain to a 2.7 rating from a 2.3%

The telecast earned a 30.8 in Kansas City – the highest rating for an MLB game in the market on record (dating back to 1998) – and an 8.5 HH rating in L.A.

ESPN Slams Wild Card Record 5.6M Viewers

Mike Reynolds — Thu, 02 Oct 2014 19:45:00 +0000

Despite the lopsided result on the diamond, ESPN’s inaugural MLB Wild Card telecast shined as the most-watched and highest-rated game for the sport’s recent playoff format.

ESPN’s first swing in Major League Baseball’s postseason since 2006 delivered a record 3.6 U.S. rating and 5.59 million viewers for the National League Wild Card game, according to Nielsen fast nationals data.

Coverage of the Giants’ 8-0 win on Oct. 1, which ended the Pirates season, surpassed the 5.23 million viewers on TBS, who watched the Kansas City Royals’ exciting 9-8, 12th inning win over the Oakland A’s by 7%. Giants-Pirates -- San Francisco jumped out to a 4-0 lead on Brandon Crawford's fourth-inning Grand Slam (pictured) -- was up 22% in viewership and 20% in ratings compared to the 2013 NL Wild Card telecast on TBS in which the Pirates topped the Cincinnati Reds.

MLB introduced the 10-team playoff format that includes a Wild Card game in both the senior and junior circuits during the 2012 playoffs.

The Giants-Pirates contest was also the most-viewed MLB game ever on WatchESPN with more than 9.9 million total minutes viewed and an average minute audience of 48,589. Those figures were 126% higher for total minutes and 156% higher for average minute audience than the previous WatchESPN record with baseball.

FS West Scores Top 2014 Mark with Angels-Dodgers

Mike Reynolds — Wed, 06 Aug 2014 04:30:00 +0000

The first game of the latest iteration of the "Freeway Series" delivered Fox Sports West's top rating of the 2014 Major League Baseball season.

FS West's coverage of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim's victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Aug. 4 drew a 4.02 household rating, 228,000 households and 346,000 viewers in the Los Angeles DMA. Monday night's telecast also marked the club's second-best performance ever on FS West.

Perhaps the big numbers were not surprising given what was at stake of the field -- the Dodgers lead the National League West, while the Angels are currently one game off the pace in the American League West and would host the junior circuit's Wild Card playoff game if the season ended now -- and the continuing distribution stalemate for SportsNet LA, the Dodgers' regional sports network home.

With only Time Warner Cable, which manages the service and its affiliate sales team, carrying the RSN in the LA market, SportsNet averaged a 1.01 household rating, 57,000 households and 88,000 viewers. Time Warner Cable counts more than 30% of the pay-TV subscribers in the City of Angels environs.

Prompted by a letter from California lawmakers to chairman Tom Wheeler, the FCC has threatened to get involved in trying to prompt some resolution to the carriage impasse, stemming from the SportsNet LA's monthly subscriber fee that is reportedly in excess of $4.

In the wake of that missive,Time Warner Cable has said it was willing to accept outside arbitration to resolve the current carriage dispute. However, DirecTV, the other major distributor in the LA market, said it is not ready yet to submit its bid for carriage of SportsNet LA into arbitration, but it is open to "mediation."

"We will continue to have discussions in good faith and will consider mediation, rather than arbitration, to reach a deal that benefits all of our customers. But any such talks must include all TV providers in the area as well as compromise by the ownership of the Dodgers to be meaningful," DirecTV said in a statement.

Meanwhile, there is less than two months left in MLB's 2014 campaign and the shutout for SportsNet LA could stretch for the entire season.