• by Wayne Friedman , October 5, 2006

Why did Fox give up the first round of the playoffs in the upcoming baseball contract? Take a look at Tuesday night's ratings of the opening playoff game between the New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers.

Ratings dropped some 21 percent to a 2.7 rating/8 share from the same game a year before, when the Yankees faced off against the Los Angeles Angels. That game posted a 3.4/9. For baseball's next contract, the opening playoff series will be aired by TNT and a network yet to be determined. In the new contract, Fox will air later playoff series and the World Series.

All this gave NBC and ABC some latitude to compete for a share of the Tuesday win. Both networks tied with a 4.1/11 in adults 18-49 for Nielsen Media Research's live plus same-day viewing.

NBC's typically strong "Law & Order: SVU" did a 5.3/14. ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" continued to drag the network's schedule by the scruff of the neck with a 5.2/14 rating. Because of baseball on Fox, both NBC and ABC didn't have to compete with Fox's strong "House" numbers, typically in the 5.0 range.

CBS landed in third place for the evening, at a 3.6/10. Fox was next at 2.7/8. The CW did a 1.7/5.

Fox hopes to do much better in this coming baseball playoff season. Last year, it recorded the lowest ratings ever for a World Series--an average household rating of 11.4 and 17.2 million average viewers. The first game of the World Series was also the lowest ever--a 9.5 household rating.

For the next month, other competing networks hope that Fox will have a similar performance. "These low numbers give viewers a chance to sample other programs," says Brad Adgate, senior vice president and corporate research director of New York media buyer Horizon Media.

"I'm surprised the game was this low--even for Fox, considering that it's the [highly touted] Yankees and that Detroit is the Cinderella team this year," says Adgate.

NBC didn't take much of this advantage for its new "Friday Night Lights" high-school football drama. For its season debut, at the 8 p.m. time slot, it earned just a 2.7 rating/8 share among 18-49 viewers. "Lights" couldn't keep pace with ABC's dominating "Stars," or CBS' "NCIS," which had a 4.0/12 rating.

Some new series continue to drop. CBS's "Smith" dipped to a series-low 2.8/8 in 18-49s. ABC's new comedy "Help Me Help You" slipped to a 3.0 from a 3.6.

CBS's best show was "The Unit," which grabbed a 4.1/11 rating. Its sister network, The CW, pulled in with 1.9/6 for "Gilmore Girls" and a 1.4/4 for "Veronica Mars." In particular, former UPN show "Mars" seems to be benefiting from the former WB show "Girls" lead-in--delivering its third-best numbers ever among adults 18-34, and its second-best 18-49 numbers.