24/7 & Versus Ratings

John Ourand of SportsBusiness Journal tweeted some NHL ratings today.

HBO drew 284K viewers to the first episode Wed night, which is down from last year

The decline for 24/7 is a little surprising but let’s face it, last year’s rivalry was more interesting. One thing to keep in mind is that all HBO programs see a big bump if you add in on demand and encore presentation views. For instance, last year’s first episode ended up with around 2.8 million viewers. But on its actual debut night, 24/7 only drew 383,000 viewers. The key will be for this year’s version to attract viewers from those same alternative platforms.

This year’s numbers are off from the boxing version of 24/7. Cotto/Margarito drew 618k last month but that was likely helped by being a lead in to live boxing. 24/7 usually drops if live boxing isn’t on the schedule.

Also from John Ourand -

Top NHL game on cable: Versus’ CHI-MIN match on Wed drew 540K viewers. More than 3,350 shows had a higher viewership on cable last week.

These Versus ratings are pretty solid but that’s to be expected. Both teams are good regional draws and it was a competitive matchup.

 

USA Hockey Extending Deal With NHLN

Any hope of the new NBC Sports Network picking up the World Junior Championships appears to be out the window. USA Today’s Kevin Allen reports that NHLN and USA Hockey are extending their deal

USA Hockey expected announce today it has reached agreement for NHL Network to continue broacasting its WJC games through 2018.

With that, hopefully we’ll get some news on the broadcasters for this year’s coverage.

UPDATE Here’s the official statement from USA Hockey with the broadcast schedule. Matt Rosen, Dave Starman and Rob Simpson will make up this year’s broadcast team.