Michigan State’s Victory Provides No Magic for CBS
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There was no magic for CBS in Michigan State’s victory over Florida in the NCAA men’s basketball championship game Monday night.
The national telecast drew a 14.1 rating, the lowest since CBS began televising the NCAA tournament in 1982 and 18% lower than last year’s 17.2 for Connecticut’s victory over Duke.
The tournament as a whole averaged an all-time low of 6.4 for CBS, which in November agreed to a $6-billion, 11-year extension, beginning in 2003.
In Los Angeles, Monday night’s game on Channel 2 drew an 8.8 rating, also an all-time low. By comparison, when UCLA defeated Arkansas in 1995, the L.A. rating was a 25.4. When Arizona beat Kentucky in 1997, the L.A. rating was a 19.4.
The 8.8 also is lower than the 9.7 rating Channel 4 got for the Lakers’ Sunday afternoon game against the New York Knicks. The baseball openers Monday got L.A. ratings of 4.0 for the Angels on Channel 9 and 3.2 for the Dodgers on Channel 5.
The NCAA women’s title game on ESPN Sunday night got a 3.5 national rating, off 19% from a year ago. The L.A. rating was a 1.0.
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