Lakers-76ers Series Gives NBC Some Scoring Punch

Sports took center stage in prime time last week, as better-than-expected point totals for the NBA basketball championship series propelled NBC to a lopsided ratings victory, based on viewing estimates issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

Viewing of the NBA Finals, pitting the Lakers against Allen Iverson and the Philadelphia 76ers, is running well ahead of last year at this juncture, and figures to build further if the series extends to six or seven games. ABC, meanwhile, televised a seventh and deciding game of hockey’s Stanley Cup Playoffs, attracting the largest audience for a hockey game since Nielsen began reporting total-viewer ratings in 1987.

Newsmagazines remain another traditional antidote for summer reruns, including CBS’ “48 Hours,” which offered two editions last week. Overall, NBC’s tune-in levels were up 7% compared with the corresponding week in 2000, while every other network was down by 9% or more.

As for alternatives to the major networks, HBO’s “Sex and the City” continues to improve on last year’s results, though Sunday’s second episode, at about 5.5 million viewers, fell 11% from the two-part season premiere a week earlier. “Six Feet Under” also lost about a million viewers from its launch, with an audience of 3.9 million, though that reflects a small gain over its lead-in show, “Arli$$.”

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 NBC 11.38 million 11.48 CBS 9.26 12.29 ABC 7.33 12.11 FOX 5.92 9.35 UPN 3.22 3.73 WB 2.51 3.68

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