ABC - ABC RUNS HOOPS AROUND RIVALS

ABC RUNS HOOPS AROUND RIVALS

The NBA Finals dominated primetime Thursday, with the ABC coverage of the gamebetween the Orlando Magic and the Los Angeles Lakers winning not only every half hour of the game itself but also winning with NBA Countdown and Jimmy Kimmel Live earlier in the evening. The basketball telecast averaged 12.21 million viewers, peaking in the first half hour with 13.66 million -- an unusual occurrence in itself, since basketball games ordinarily attract the most viewers in the final half hour. Overall, ABC averaged 11.29 million viewers for the night, well ahead of second-place CBS, which aired a full schedule of reports and attracted 7.46 million. Fox placed third with 7.19 million viewers, while NBC fell far back in the pack with 4.25 million.

12/06/2009