CBS Takes Advantage of NBC’s Poor NBA Scoring

NBA playoff telecasts misfired on NBC last week, allowing CBS to score a ratings victory with a team that included “60 Minutes” and reruns of “Everybody Loves Raymond” and “CSI,” based on viewing estimates issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

NBC basketball coverage on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday nights drew only mediocre ratings. Sunday’s concluding game of the Milwaukee-Philadelphia series, for example, fell almost 30% below the tune-in for last year’s Lakers-Portland showdown. ABC, by contrast, saw slight improvement, off a smaller base, for the Stanley Cup hockey playoffs on Thursday.

CBS also broadcast the Tony Awards, hosted by “The Producers” stars Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, featuring Mel Brooks, with the modest audience still representing a 5% gain over a year ago.

Overall, combined viewing of the four major networks slipped 16%--or by nearly 6 million viewers per minute of prime time--compared to the corresponding week in 2000, when CBS introduced the first “Survivor.”

Among cable alternatives, HBO launched the fourth season of “Sex and the City” with back-to-back episodes Sunday, followed by the premiere of “Six Feet Under.” “Sex” averaged 6.2 million viewers--almost a 50% increase over last year’s opener--while the new series drew an estimated audience of 5 million. The pay channel is received by roughly a third of U.S. homes.

Network Averages

Here is the number of viewers that each network averaged per hour of prime time, for last week and for the season.

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Last Season week to date CBS 9.72 million 12.38 NBC 8.88 11.48 ABC 7.18 12.25 FOX 5.86 9.44 UPN 3.32 3.74 WB 3.11 3.71

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