TV Ratings Strong for Lockout-Shortened NBA Season

The long and painful NBA lockout didn’t drive fans away as some had feared. In fact, viewers came right back and tuned in to nationally-televised games in large numbers. Reports USA Today: “ABC’s games are averaging 3.3% of U.S. TV households, up 10% from last year. ESPN, despite a scrambled schedule that put NBA games in time slots where they hadn’t previously aired, is averaging 1.3%. That’s even with last year, when ESPN’s NBA games got their best ratings since the network got NBA rights in 2002. TNT’s games are averaging 1.7%. That’s up only slightly from last year, when NBA got strong ratings partly from the buzz about LeBron James joining the Miami Heat. But TNT is on track for its most-watched NBA games ever in part because of continuing interest in the Heat — its four highest-rated games, outside Christmas Day, involved that team.”