Football Wins Week for CBS

Once again, football was a big winner in the Nielsen race with the AFC Divisional Playoff game between the New England Patriots and the Oakland Raiders earning a 27 share and a 10.8 household rating, with 28.7 million viewers, last Saturday, helping to catapult CBS into first place for the week. The show ran Saturday in prime time, an unusual time for a football game and normally the least popular night of the week for TV viewing.

The game placed second for the week of Jan. 14-20 to Friends (NBC), which had a 26 share, 10.8 household rating and 29.2 million viewers.

In Nielsen's new sports category, football flourished, with NFL playoff games on CBS, Fox and ABC taking the top four spots. ABC's Monday Night Football was fifth. The top playoff game on CBS (Baltimore-Minnesota) scored a 32 share and a 16.8 household rating.

CBS won the week with a 16 share and a 9.8 household rating, edging NBC at 15/9.3. ABC and Fox were further behind with 9 shares and household ratings of 5.7 and 5.6.

The rest of the top 10 includes E.R. (NBC), CSI (CBS), Golden Globe Awards (NBC), Law and Order (NBC), Everybody Loves Raymond (CBS), Will & Grace (NBC), West Wing (NBC) and Jag (CBS). ABC was again shut out of the top, after a brief flurry last week with football specials. NYPD Blue was the only ABC show that made the top 25. It was 25th.

Cable winners for the most recent week (Jan. 7-13) were WWF Entertainment (TNN), which won the top two spots, followed by US Figure Skating Championship (FAM), Superstation Sunday Showcase (TBS) and Spongebob (NICK).

Nielsen introduced a new category this week -- African American ratings. The company provides data on African American and Hispanic households. The top African American shows last week were the Michael Jackson 30th Anniversary (CBS), with a 17.7 share in 2.2 million homes. Other winners were American Music Awards (ABC), NFL Monday Night Football (ABC), the Jets-Oakland AFC playoff game (ABC) and 60 Minutes (CBS).

In other big TV news this week, the NBA completed a new TV deal with five networks, leaving NBC for ABC/ESPN AOL Time Warner. Games will be split on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, TNT and a newly formed NBA channel to be jointly owned by AOL TW and the NBA. There will be more games on more networks when the new contract starts next season. Ratings declined on NBC by 25 percent last year, so it remains to be seen how the new contract will affect them. It's the most expensive NBA contract ever, valued at about $4.6 billion.

Connie Chung's move from ABC News to CNN made waves in the ongoing battle among the top news networks. After Greta Van Susteren, host of CNN's The Point, left for Fox News last week, CNN needed a new star. Chung will likely take Van Susteren's place with a new show, as yet unnamed.

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