KTLA Leads the Parade for Rose Tournament Coverage : Television: Channel 5 beats the competition for the 18th consecutive year, garnering a 22.9 rating.

It may be time to add another certainty to death and taxes: KTLA-TV Channel 5 finishing atop the ratings for coverage of the Tournament of Roses Parade.

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Although the Tribune Broadcasting-owned independent saw its ratings decline 5.4% from last year, it still attracted 38% more viewers than the combined total of the four other English-language stations carrying the parade, winning for the 18th consecutive year.

KTLA attracted a 22.9 rating and 47% of the television audience from 8-10:30 a.m. last Friday, according to figures released Monday by the A. C. Nielsen Co. With each local ratings point being equivalent to 49,657 households, that means about 1,137,000 homes were tuned in.

“Every year we don’t take our competitors lightly,” KTLA General Manager Greg Nathanson said. “We put more cameras, pay more attention to sound and keep coming up with improvements. If we keep doing it, don’t lose our competitive desire to win and don’t get cocky, we will always stay on top.”

KTTV-TV Channel 11, KTLA’s Sunset Boulevard neighbor, which has tried several approaches over the years to increase its viewership, had an even larger decline, falling 16.7% from 10.2 to 8.5, equaling its 1990 low for the past five years.

The station was also vexed with its second live broadcast from near the end of the parade route between 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. That program drew a 7 rating, 5.4% less than its first replay in 1992 and 83% less than the 12.8 that KTLA registered with its 10:30-12:30 replay this year.

(Although touted by KTTV as an innovation, both KTLA and KTTV had second live broadcasts in 1953, when each wanted to show another parade telecast before the advent of videotape.)

With its ratings down, KTTV was left to crow about a 20% increase in advertising revenue for its parade rebroadcasts. Both KTLA and KTTV run live broadcasts without commercials and seek to recoup costs through selling commercials on the taped replays.

The three major network owned-and-operated stations continued their tradition of lagging far behind KTLA and KTTV in the parade ratings. KCBS-TV Channel 2 had a 3.2, KABC-TV Channel 7 a 2.7 and KNBC-TV Channel 4 a 2.2. KABC and KNBC both ended their parade coverage at 10 a.m., a half-hour earlier than KTLA, KTTV and KCBS, to go to network telecasts of collegiate football bowl games.

Spanish-language coverage on KMEX-TV Channel 34 drew about 127,000 households, according to a separate Nielsen survey.

Among the New Year’s Day college football bowl games, Michigan’s 38-31 victory over Washington in the 79th Rose Bowl on KABC was Southern California’s most-watched game with an 18.6 rating (923,600 households).

Alabama’s 34-13 upset of previously undefeated Miami in the Sugar Bowl to claim college football’s national championship (also on KABC) was second at 15.6. KNBC had a 8.4 for the Cotton Bowl, a 2.9 for the Fiesta Bowl (opposite the Rose Bowl) and a 2.6 for the Orange Bowl (against the Sugar Bowl). The Blockbuster Bowl on KCBS had a 5.5.

In the overnight figures from the nation’s largest markets, the Sugar Bowl was on top with a 16.6, followed by the Rose (13.7), Cotton (11.5), Fiesta (6.5), Blockbuster (6), Citrus (5.5) and Orange (4.1). Final national ratings are scheduled to be released Thursday.