TV Ratings : NFL Championship Game Powers CBS to a Win

“PrimeTime Live” racked up its biggest ratings ever on ABC last Thursday with a report on the Nancy Kerrigan ice-skating story, but CBS still won the network race, according to figures released Tuesday by the A.C. Nielsen Co.

“PrimeTime Live,” which featured Diane Sawyer interviewing Shawn Eckardt, Tonya Harding’s bodyguard, was seen in nearly 16.9 million homes and ranked 11th among the 98 network prime-time programs. It drew 29% of the available audience, contrasted with 19% for NBC’s “Homicide: Life on the Street” and 14% for CBS’ “Second Chances.”

Outdrawing the ice-skating story, however, was the NFL championship. CBS’ post-game coverage of the Dallas-San Francisco contest extended into prime time in much of the country and ranked second overall, trailing only the venerable “60 Minutes.”

Fox, meanwhile, was cheering the results of “The George Carlin Show,” which in its second outing finished second in its 9:30-10 p.m. Sunday time slot and delivered the biggest audience for Fox in that period since August, 1992.

Southland Ratings

Here are A. C. Nielsen’s Top 10 prime-time programs in the Los Angeles area during the same week. Each rating point equals 50,064 households.

Program Station Rating 1. 60 Minutes KCBS 23.6 2. Married ... With Children KTTV 18.7 3. The Simpsons KTTV 18.5 4. Seinfeld KNBC 17.5 5. The George Carlin Show KTTV 16.9 Home Improvement KABC 16.9 7. Murder, She Wrote KCBS 16.4 8. Family Matters KABC 15.6 9. Frasier KNBC 15.0 10. Grace Under Fire KABC 14.7

Weekly Averages

CBS 15.0

ABC 12.8

NBC 10.2

FOX 7.5

Season to Date

CBS 13.0

ABC 12.7

NBC 11.2

FOX 7.2