1 of 1- paterson1
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Saturday Night OTA Network Ratings...Anybody Home??
Looking at the US OTA network ratings from last night are embarrassing. Only ONE program Saturday night had OVER 2 million viewers. This was a repeat of 48 hours on CBS with 2.03 million at 10pm. All other programming on all networks under 2 million. And in most cases well under.
Even sports didn't help. The championship game for the USFL on NBC barely had one million people watching. With a total of 235 NBC stations would mean the average number of people watching per channel was 4,255! Small markets like Buffalo or Rochester would even be less. Major League baseball on FOX was only slightly better with 1.27 million tuning in. These numbers should go up slightly when they are updated.
Maybe with the long holiday weekend these ratings are unusually low. A lot of people are travelling for the American July 4th holiday. Checking the week before, Saturday June 24th, overall was even worse. Everything again with the exception of 48 Hours at 10pm was under 2 million. A repeat of Blue Bloods on CBS attracted 1.72 million. Here are the numbers from last night from The TV Ratings Guide..
- Hansa
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Re: Saturday Night OTA Network Ratings...Anybody Home??
I thought the big 3 networks all but stopped new Saturday night programming several years ago - and even NBC now airs SNL twice on the west coast - once during prime time (simultaneously with the 11:30 ET viewing) and again at 11:30 PT.
- RadioActive
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Re: Saturday Night OTA Network Ratings...Anybody Home??
Saturday night was once a powerhouse - All In The Family, M*A*S*H, Bob Newhart Show and Carol Burnett all aired on that day back in the 1974 season on CBS alone. Hard to believe it's now - to quote the late Newton Minnow - a vast wasteland. (And let's not forget NBC's long running "Saturday Night At The Movies.")
Nothing but reruns now and even cable doesn't offer much. They really shouldn't even bother programming it anymore.