The opening week of the college football season dominated the sports ratings chart last week, securing the top 10 most-watched telecasts.

The onslaught was led by ABC’s September 3 LSU-Florida State telecast, which pulled in 9.16 million viewers -- the network’s second-best regular season game in the past five years, according to Nielsen ratings published by SportsMedia Watch. Fox’s September 2 Colorado-Christian University telecast – which marked former NFL star Deion Sanders’ debut as Colorado coach – finished second for the week with 7.26 million viewers. 

Among non-college football telecasts, USA Network’s September 3 NASCAR Cup playoff race from Darlington topped the list with 2.28 million viewers, followed by ABC’s September 3 coverage of US Open tennis and Fox’s September 2 Saturday baseball telecast, which drew 1.92 million viewers. 

ESPN's college football and U.S. Open tennis tournament coverage helped propel the sports network to its second straight weekly primetime cable ratings win during the first full week of September.

ESPN averaged 2.6 million viewers for the week of September 5 to September 11 to top all cable networks, according to Nielsen. Fox News finished second for the week with 2 million viewers, followed by MSNBC with 1 million viewers and HGTV with 877,000 viewers.

Hallmark Channel was the fifth most-watched network for the week with 800,000 viewers, followed by ESPN2 (773,000 viewers), INSP (753,000), TLC (747,000), CNN (696,000) and USA Network (668,000).

Fox News extended its total day winning streak to 36 weeks, averaging 1.3 million viewers for the period. ESPN (1 million viewers), MSNBC (721,000), CNN (605,000) and HGTV (491,000), finished among the top five most watched cable networks in the period, according to Nielsen. ■ 

The first full weekend of the college football season highlights a busy Labor Day weekend of live sports programming on linear TV channels and streaming services.

Several of college football’s Top 10 teams will be in action Saturday, beginning with No. 1 Alabama, who will open the season against Utah State on the SEC Network. Second-ranked Ohio State travels to No. 5 Notre Dame in a primetime ABC-televised game, while No. 3 Georgia battles 11th-ranked Oregon, also on ABC. 

Other games on Saturday include No. 6 Texas A&M-Sam Houston (SEC Network), No. 7 Utah-Florida (ESPN), No. 8 Michigan-Colorado State (ABC), No. 9 Oklahoma-UTEP (Fox) and No. 10 Baylor-Albany (ESPN Plus).

Also: Heavyweights Take Over Fall PPV Boxing Schedule 

On Monday, fourth-ranked Clemson meets Georgia Tech on ESPN. 

On the tennis court, ESPN and ESPN2 will offer continuing coverage of the U.S. Open Grand Slam tennis tournament from New York. The biggest story of the early rounds has been the success of tennis legend Serena Williams, who announced last month  that the US Open will serve as her last major tennis tournament competition. If Williams wins her third U.S. Open match on Friday night against Ajla Tomljanovic, she would compete Sunday in the fourth round of the women’s singles division. 

The WNBA playoffs continue with game three coverage of the semifinal series between Chicago Sky and the Connecticut Sun (ESPN2) as well as the Las Vegas Aces and Seattle Storm (ABC). 

Major League Baseball moves into the final full month of its regular season with Sunday coverage on Peacock featuring the Toronto Blue Jays and the Pittsburgh Pirates, and Sunday Night Baseball coverage on ESPN showcasing the San Diego Padres-Los Angeles Dodgers game. 

NBC on Sunday will offer IndyCar coverage from the Grand Prix of Portland, while USA Network will air live the NASCAR Cup Cook Out Southern 500 race and ESPN televises the Formula One Dutch Grand Prix event. 

In the ring, Fox Sports on Sunday will distribute a pay-per-view boxing card featuring a main event fight between heavyweights Andy Ruiz and Luis Ortiz. ■

The lineup of live TV sports events set for the Father’s Day and Juneteenth holiday weekend starts on the ice with ABC's coverage Saturday of Game two of the NHL Stanley Cup finals between the Colorado Avalanche and the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Avalanche on Wednesday took the opening contest with a thrilling 4-3 overtime victory.

Game three of the Stanley Cup Final will air Monday night on ABC. 

The USFL wraps up its inaugural regular season with Saturday telecasts on USA (Philadelphia Stars-New Jersey Generals) and Fox (Birmingham Stallions-Tampa Bay Bandits) and Sunday games on USA (Michigan Panthers-Pittsburgh Maulers) and FS1 (New Orleans Breakers-Houston Gamblers). 

NBC, USA Network and streaming service Peacock will offer weekend coverage of the 2022 US Open PGA golf tournament, while the Golf Channel will feature coverage of the LPGA Meijer Classic tournament.

CBS on Saturday launches its coverage of the Big3 basketball league. The fifth season of the Ice Cube-founded league featuring former NBA stars tips off in Chicago. On Sunday, CBS will air coverage of the WNBA game between the Connecticut Sun and Washington Mystics, while ESPN will air the Seattle Storm-New York Liberty contest and CBS Sports Network will televise the Minnesota Lynx-Las Vegas Aces game.

ESPN steps into the boxing ring Saturday night with a telecast of the Artur Beterbiev and Joe Smith Jr. light heavyweight championship unification fight. The sports network will also air a Saturday afternoon UFC main event bout between featherweights Calvin Kattar and Josh Emmett. 

On the baseball diamond, Peacock’s Sunday afternoon game will feature the Philadelphia Phillies and the Washington Nationals, while ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball telecast will pit the Chicago White Sox against the Houston Astros.■  

Fox Sports’ weekend coverage of the U.S. Open golf championship and the FIFA Women’s World Cup capped an impressive five-day run of strong viewership performances for marquee sports telecasts.

Fox broadcasting continued to set soccer telecast milestones with its Sunday afternoon coverage of the US women’s soccer team’s 3-0 win over Chile. The network drew 5.3 million viewers for the game, making it the most-watched English-language soccer telecast in the country since the 2018 FIFA Men's World Cup final in Russia, according to Nielsen.

The telecast was also most-watched, FIFA Women’s World Cup Group Stage match ever in the U.S., according to Fox Sports.

Later that evening, the network moved to the greens for its final round coverage of the US Open golf championship. The network’s primetime coverage of the championship from Pebble Beach, California -- in which Gary Woodland (pictured) took home the prized trophy -- delivered 7.3 million viewers, according to Nielsen. Overall, 31.7 million viewers watched all or part of the tournament, making it Fox Sports’ most watched U.S. Open ever.

Fox Sports kicked off its U.S. Open coverage this past Thursday (June 13) with FS1 focusing cameras on the play from two groups of golfers -- including Tiger Woods and Brooks Koepka -- while Fox Sports handled main coverage duties for the championship. The telecasts drew a combined 3.4 million viewers -- the best first round coverage on a broadcast network since 2002, according to Fox Sports.

RELATED: Fox Takes Swing At Alternative Feed During U.S. Open Golf Event

Also on June 13, ABC concluded its coverage of the Golden State Warriors-Toronto Raptors NBA Finals by drawing more than 18 million viewers to the sixth and final game of the series, won by the Raptors. While ABC’s ratings were hampered by having the Canadian-based Raptors -- the Toronto market is not rated by Nielsen -- in the finals, the network’s game telecasts on the nights aired were the most-watched shows on television, according to Nielsen.

The NBA Finals ended a day after the NHL Stanley Cup finals finished a thrilling Game 7 between the now champion St. Louis Blues and the Boston Bruins by averaging 8.7 million viewers on NBC -- the most watched Nielsen-rated NHL telecast, which dates back to 1994, according to Nielsen.

The high cost of sports programming and the value proposition of sports networks will always be a subject for debate within the industry, but what is indisputable is the ability of marquee sports events to still draw big audiences and, more often than not, score more viewers up against any other content on traditional television.

Fox Sports drew big audiences for its primetime opening round coverage of the U.S. Open championship last night.

Fox broadcasting and FS1’s primetime coverage of the golf event drew a combined 3.4 million viewers -- the best first round coverage on a broadcast network since 2002, according to Fox Sports. The performance was up 61% over last year’s 2.1 million viewers, according to the network.

Fox broadcasting in primetime carried main coverage of the US Open, while FS1 offered a dedicated feed that followed two groups of golfers that included Tiger Woods and defending U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka.

RELATED: Fox Sports Takes Swing at Alternative Feed During U.S. Open Golf Event

On the cable side, FS1’s day-long first round coverage (12:30 to 7:30 pm ET) averaged 1.3 million viewers, up 30% from 2018’s 1 million viewers, according to Fox Sports.

Fox Sports tees off its primetime coverage of the U.S. Open golf championship tonight (June 13) with FS1 offering a alternative feed that will follow every shot from such golfers as Tiger Woods and Brooks Koepka alongside Fox Broadcasting’s main telecast.

FS1, which launched Fox Sports' live U.S. Open coverage this afternoon, will switch to a targeted feed at 7:30 that will follow two groups featuring Woods, Jordan Spieth and defending U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka. Fox Broadcasting will pick up full coverage of the championship at the same time.

Usually featured group feeds are only available digitally on Fox Sports apps and other sports sites, but Fox Sports executive vice president and head of programming Bill Wanger said that Fox wanted to experiment with offering the dedicated feed on a linear TV channel.

“We thought it was a unique opportunity being at Pebble Beach -- and with Tiger’s group and Brooks Koepka’s group playing in primetime -- to showcase those two groups on FS1 at the same time that Fox broadcast network has the main telecast with all the golfers,” he said. “We thought it would be a great benefit for the fans.”

Wanger said the FS1 coverage will not hurt viewership for the Fox’s general coverage of the championship, adding that both networks will run the same advertisements at the same time during its telecasts.

“We’ve found in the past that you’re not actually taking away viewers, but adding viewers to the pot, so we feel confident that both numbers will be strong,” he said. “It’s also an added benefit for our advertising partners as well because you get a little boost -- we get to cume up ratings.”

Wanger said that the alternative feed will only run on Thursday night due to other FS1 contractual primetime scheduling commitments -- including live FIFA Women’s World Cup soccer coverage -- over the weekend. Overall, Wagner said he’s confident the Fox Sports will be able to drive strong ratings for its Open coverage through the weekend.

“We’re definitely confident in the viewership we’re see for the tournament,” he said. “One of the great thing about being on the west coast is being able to put golf into primetime. On Thursday and Friday we’ll run until 10 or 10:30 when most people are home and available to watch. Anytime you get a west coast location for a tournament as iconic as Pebble Beach, I think there will be a lot of interest.” 

About five months after sealing the deal to purchase the Tennis Channel for $350 million, Sinclair Broadcast Group has expanded the sports network’s reach to 47 million households according to measurement company comScore, with an eye toward more than 60 million homes by 2017.

The increases are the result of several distribution deals Sinclair has made since closing the deal in March.  In announcing the deal, Sinclair said it had secured deals to expand Tennis Channel’s reach by about 20 million homes,  from its base at the time of about 30 million homes. Since then, Sinclair said Tennis Channel was available in about 37 million homes in February, its last full month as an independent network.

Earlier this month Sinclair EVP and chief operating officer David Amy said the sports channel added about 1 million new customers through its carriage deal with Charter Communications.  Sinclair said in a statement that the Tennis Channel is carried on expanded basic or digital basic packages on Bright House, Dish Network, Frontier, Suddenlink, Time Warner Cable and Cable One, with similar rollouts planned for AT&T U-verse, Buckeye, Comcast, DirecTV, Mediacom, Cincinnati Bell and WOW!

That number could get even larger as the network heads toward its eighth consecutive year of coverage of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, which began today (Aug. 29).

DirecTV is providing partial coverage of the U.S. Open golf championships in 4K resolutiong, offering live broadcasts during all four rounds from the tournament in Oakmont, which gets underway today.

DirecTV, acquired by AT&T last summer, said it is providing 4K coverage of this week’s event from holes 3, 13 and 17.

DirecTV subs with the proper set up can tune into that 4K coverage on channel 106. To get it, those customers need the provider’s latest Genie HD DVR (model HR54), a DirecTV 4K-ready TV or a compatible 4K TV (HDMI 2.0-complaint interface and HDCP 2.2 content security) connected to DirecTV’s latest 4K-capable Genie Mini device, and subscribe to DirecTV’s Ultimate or Premier TV package.

AT&T’s U.S. Open offering in 4K follows similar sporting events coverage in the format that DirecTV provided during the AT&T Byron Nelson tournament, The Masters, and coverage of several Major League Baseball games.

In April, DirecTV launched three channels dedicated to 4K.

With Game Six of the NBA Championship Finals looming, broadcaster Tribune Media said it is getting the silent treatment from Dish Network, concerning their days-old retransmission consent dispute.

About 42 stations in 33 markets went dark to Dish customers at 7 p.m. on Sunday. Dish has said that Tribune is trying to force an exorbitant rate increase coupled with full carriage of its WGN America cable network as terms for a deal. Tribune argues that it is merely asking for fair compensation for its content.

As the battle rages on, Tribune said in a statement Tuesday that it had submitted a proposal to Dish at 11:50 p.m. on Sunday and has yet to hear a response from the satellite TV service provider. Tribune did not reveal the terms of that offer.

 “It has been more than 48 hours and we’ve had zero response to it, and as a result of Dish’s unresponsiveness, their subscribers suffer the consequences—missing important local news and entertainment programming as well as one-of-a-kind live sporting events like the NBA Finals and The U.S. Golf tournament,” said Tribune Media senior vice president of corporate relations, Gary Weitman, said in a statement. “We stand ready to negotiate, but we can’t do so alone.”

In the meantime, Tribune said “tens of thousands” of Dish customers will not see Major League Baseball's Chicago Cubs meet the Washington Nationals this afternoon on WGN-TV. Thursday night’s NBA Finals Game 6 could also be a washout for some Dish subscribers if a deal isn’t reached. Tribune estimated about 1.5 million Dish subscribers in its Fox-affiliated markets could miss this this weekend’s U.S. Open golf tournament as well.

Dish said it proposed a brief extension with a true-up provision while it continued negotiations that was rejected by Tribune.

“Dish offered to extend the contract so that consumers would have continued access to the Tribune channels while negotiations continued,” Dish said in a statement. “Tribune rejected our offer.  Only Tribune can cause a channel blackout.  Rather than continuing to negotiate in good faith, Tribune chose to remove their channels from Dish. We have yet to receive a reasonable response to our last offer. Rather than negotiate in the Press we suggest that Tribune respond to our last offer with a meaningful and fair offer for our customers.”

Taking another swing at live virtual reality production, Fox Sports (via its Fox Sports Lab unit) is teaming up with NextVR for a VR offering from this week’s U.S. Open Championship, set for June 16-19 at the Oakmont Country Club in Plum, Pa.

That VR coverage, sponsored by Lexus, will feature live streaming via special cameras stationed at holes 9, 17, and 18, with roving coverage between neighboring holes 10 and 11. The VR package will also include some on-demand fare, including players at the practice range each morning, narrated content of the course’s history, two-minute golf tips, and pre-produced features of each hole.

Fox Sports’ U.S. Open VR broadcast and associated VOD content will be available free through the NextVR portal. Samsung GearVR headset owners can access it via the NextVR app.  

This week’s VR coverage is the latest in a series from Fox Sports/FOX Sports Lab that also included specialized coverage of the Daytona 500, a Premier Boxing Champions title fight and the Big East basketball tournament. Fox Sports and NextVR also teamed on a smaller VR production during last year’s U.S. Open golf tournament.

The lastest work comes on the heels of a recently inked a five-year deal between Fox Sports and NextVR.

Fox Sports said it will offer more than 36 hours of live golf action during the tournament via Fox, FS1, and three distinct alternate live streams that add 110 hours of coverage on the Fox Sports Go app.

“At FOX Sports, we focus on helping partners align with the development and utility of technology, which naturally produces unique storytelling and content offerings,” said Neil Mulcahy, EVP, FOX Sports Ad Sales, Sports Management, in a statement. “We are connected across the company as we capitalize on innovative thinking, and our partners are at the center of that collaboration.”

Bolstered by the launch of the college and pro football season, ESPN topped all basic cable networks in last week’s primetime ratings race.

ESPN averaged 3.7 million viewers during the week of Sept. 7 to Sept. 13 to break Fox News’ five week run atop the primetime cable ratings charts, according to Nielsen. Fox News finished second with 1.7 million viewers.

USA and Disney finished tied for third with 1.5 million viewers, while HGTV held the fifth place spot with 1.4 million viewers. HGTV (1.3 million viewers), History (1.3 million), TBS (1.2 million), Lifetime (1.1 million) and FX (1.1 million) rounded out the top 10 most watched networks for the week.

ESPN also topped the charts on a total day basis, and among the advertiser-coveted adult 18-49 year old demo, according to Nielsen.

ESPN’s college football and U.S. Open tennis tournament coverage represented half of the top 10 most watched shows during the week, Nielsen reported.

Most Watched Cable TV Shows During the Week of Sept. 7 to Sept. 13

DateShowNetworkTotal Viewers

9/7         College Football-Ohio State-Virginia Tech             ESPN                                     10.5 million

9/13       Fear The Walking Dead                                              AMC                                         7.1 million

9/12       College Football-Oklahoma-Tennessee                 ESPN                                      4.1 million

9/7         WWE Monday Night Raw (8-9 p.m.)                           USA                                        3.5 million

9/7         WWE Monday Night Raw (9-10p.m.)                          USA                                       3.5 million

9/8         U.S. Open Tennis Tournament                                    ESPN                                    3.3 million

9/8         The Have and The Have Nots                                      OWN                                     3.2 million

9/13       U.S. Open Men’s Finals                                                ESPN                                    3.1 million

9/12       College Football – LSU/Miss. State                            ESPN                                    3.1 million

9/9         The O’Reilly Factor                                                          Fox News                            3.0 million

Source: Nielsen

In recognition of Serena Williams' Wimbledon Tennis championship win today, Tennis Channel will air Williams' sequential Grand Slam finals victories beginning Monday.

Tennis Channel on July 13 will air in chronological order Williams' 2014 US Open, 2015 Australian Open and French Open, as well as today's Wimbledon win, according to network officials.

In addition starting July 12, the network's Tennis Channel Plus digital subscription service will feature a fully dedicated section to the "Serena Slam" and will run her US Open, Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon wins on a 24/7 loop, said network officials. 

Tennis Channel will provide coverage of the upcoming 2015 US Open beginning Aug. 31. If Williams wins the U.S. Open, she will be the first female player to win all four Grand Slams in the same year since Steffi Graff in 1988, said network officials.

Fox said viewing of the exciting end to the U.S. Open Championship hit 11.2 million viewers, tuning in to see 21-year-old Jordan Spieth win a second consecutive major championship victory as Dustin Johnson agonizingly missed a birdie putt that would have forced an 18-hole playoff. Before missing the birdie chance, Johnson missed a potential winning, eagle putt.

Sunday's final round of the first U.S. Open to be televised on Fox and Fox Sports 1 was tightly contested affair, and Fox counted several Nielsen marks to note. The day's coverage posted a 4.2 household rating, averaging 6.7 million viewers on the Fox broadcast network, up 46% over the U.S. Open’s final round in 2014 (4.6 million), the programmer said in a release. The 4.2 rating versus 2014’s 3.0 marked the largest year-over-year gain for the final round since 1991-1992 (4.7/15 to 7.0/19), Fox said.

Four-day coverage of the 115th U.S. Open Championship,from Chambers Bay in Washington state, averaged a combined 3.5 million viewers each day across Fox and Fox Sports 1, which was up 40% over last year’s combined average on ESPN and NBC (2.5 million viewers), Fox said. According to a custom analysis provided by Nielsen, the almost 40 hours of coverage of the 2015 U.S. Open reached a total of 34.9 million viewers, Fox said.

The peak on Sunday came in the 10-10:30 p.m. ET half four when Spieth -- who won The Masters earlier this year -- birdied the 18th hole and runner-up Johnson three putted to finish one shot back. 

Fox said the primetime portion of Sunday’s telecast averaged a 5.3 rating and 8.7 million viewers from 7-10:46 p.m. ET, winning the night among the broadcast networks and giving Fox its most-watched Sunday night in primetime since Jan. 4 (NFC Wild Card Playoffs).

Ratings for the final round, compared to 2014, saw gains among men ages 18-34 (up 63%, at 1.3 vs. 0.8) and men ages 18-49 (up 46%, at 1.9 vs.1.3).

Over four days, Fox broadcast network coverage averaged 4.8 million viewers, up 41% over NBC’s average audience for the U.S. Open in 2014 (3.5 million viewers).

Digitally, through Fox Sports Go, USOpen.com and the U.S. Open official app, total live streams started were up 354% (5.9 million vs. 1.3 million) over 2014, Fox said, and total streamed minutes reached 158 million. The U.S. Open’s previous high was 130 million minutes in 2012.

In the first year of its expansive rights deal with the United States Golf Association, Fox Sports will tee up over 320 hours on its linear and digital platforms across eight championships.

Coverage begins with the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship May 5-6 from The Olympic Club in San Francisco and is highlighted by a record 38.5 hours from the 2015 U.S. Open at Chambers Bay, University Place in Washington.

In addition to the U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur Four-Ball, Fox Sports is scheduled to provide extensive coverage from the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship in May; U.S. Senior Open in June; U.S. Women’s Open and U.S. Junior Amateur in July; and U.S. Amateur and U.S. Women’s Amateur in August.

The plans –under the inaugural season of its 12-year deal with the USGA in which Fox succeeds NBC and ESPN -- call for USGA action on broadcast network, national cable service Fox Sports 1, Spanish-language service Fox Deportes and various Fox Sports Digital entries, including its Fox Sports Go mobile app. 

Fox Sports’ programming schedule represents the most extensive coverage ever assigned to the U.S. Open in its history.

All told the 115th U.S. Open championship will receive some 38.5 hours of live coverage from Thursday through Sunday on the broadcast network and FS1, a three-and-a-half hour increase from a year ago. 

Given its west coast footing, the event should play be big with the Nielsens, as 11.5 of the 22.5 hours scheduled for Fox will air in primetime. That compares with five primetime hours in 2012, the last time the tournament was played in the Pacific time zone.

For its part, Fox Deportes will air three hours of U.S. Open coverage Stateside on both Saturday and Sunday in Spanish, a first in the championship’s storied history.

Fox Sports Digital offers three distinct alternate production feeds available daily on USOpen.com for desktop viewers and via Fox Sports Go and U.S. Open digital platforms, adding an additional 120 hours of coverage.

“We are incredibly excited and honored to launch our partnership with the USGA this year,” said Fox Sports president and COO Eric Shanks.  “Our preparations to cover these championships have been underway for the past 18 months, and we’ve assembled a terrific team in front of the camera and behind it who are committed to providing world-class coverage.”

“This is an exciting time as the USGA begins its long-term association with FOX Sports,” said USGA president Thomas O’Toole. “Our broadcast partner has made a tremendous commitment and is dedicated to enhancing our national championships. Both players and fans will benefit from the expanded coverage.”

NEW YORK -- The two-year promotional partnership of Twitter and tennis’s U.S. Open had helped spread word of the tournament via “instant highlights,” something the overseers want to continue.

“I think you will see instant highlights continue, and it’ll just be a matter of what form or fashion that takes,” Nicole Jeter West, senior director, ticketing and digital strategy for the United States Tennis Association, said at a session during The Business of Live Television Summit Tuesday in New York City. “But we are all committed to the fact that this is working for us, it’s working for our fans and our partners.”

In 2013, an epic rally between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in the men’s final was a milestone moment in the USTA and Twitter’s efforts to send almost real-time video snippets out via promoted tweets, in an effort to get people to tune into the broadcast and expose them to a sponsor’s message (in this case Heineken) just by opening up a tweet targeted to them.

West said while that 54-shot rally was happening, she was hearing from Heineken and other media partners about getting images from it out on Twitter.

“We were able to get it out within seconds of the actual shot happening, and it blew up on Twitter and became quite viral,” West told moderator Dade Hayes, the executive editor of Broadcasting & Cable.

“Instantly there were about 10,000 retweets,” Mike Park, product & content partnerships for Twitter Amplify, the social firm’s ad platform.

“There’s no better tune-in message than to say this amazing 54-shot rally is taking place,” West said.

In 2014, West said, USTA scaled back on the ad messaging in favor of getting messages out more quickly and getting more people to open the tweets. Park said Twitter was accommodating pre-roll ads of up to 6 seconds in length, which works well with Vine, Twitter’s short-video platform. “We are continuing to look at what scales for advertisers and marketers and users,” he said.

She said some of the Twitter Amplify messages drove tune-in to events that were being streamed, as opposed to solely promoting live-TV viewing.