Blue Jays ratings skyrocket

TSN viewership up 70 per cent, Sportsnet 77 per cent

 

The FAN 590's baseball numbers also up significantly

 

 

CHRIS ZELKOVICH

 

Three years ago, Major League Baseball was the Rodney Dangerfield of sports in Canada.

 

It not only got no respect, it got very little money when it negotiated a broadcast deal with Rogers Sportsnet. Ted's network wasn't only the highest bidder; it was the only bidder.

 

But in three short years, things have changed drastically.

 

Baseball is on a roll and both Sportsnet and TSN are raking in the profits as a result.

 

Blue Jays ratings, which bottomed out last season, have come back strong. TSN's 407,000 average is 70 per cent ahead of last season. Sportsnet's 340,000 average represents a 77 per cent improvement.

 

The latter average was enhanced by the 503,000 who took in Wednesday's victory over Boston, 196,000 more than the number posted by the Renegades-Argos game on TSN.

 

Games not involving the Jays are averaging 152,000 on Sportsnet, a 50 per cent increase over 2004.

 

And with a season-ending weekend that includes a virtual New York-Boston playoff and a wild-card battle, prospects for big playoff audiences are high.

 

Sportsnet will have all playoff games and will carry Sunday's Boston-New York game on Sportsnet East and West, if you have all four Sportsnets.

 

``We're on a pretty good run with baseball," says Sportsnet president Doug Beeforth. ``All indications are that it should continue."

 

The playoffs have made Sportsnet the country's top specialty channel the past two Octobers and given them four of their six biggest audiences. That included a year with the NHL in operation, by the way.

 

Beeforth admits that latching on to baseball was a bit of a no-brainer. After The Score bailed out of its deal in 2002, citing huge losses, Sportsnet scooped it up for less than one-fifth the previous $9-million annual rights fee.

 

Besides the attractive price, baseball kind of fit with his bosses' tastes.

 

``If you look at the larger Rogers world, baseball is a significant partner," Beeforth says. ``Rogers owns a baseball team, a baseball stadium. It made sense to us to become as large a partner as we could."

 

The timing couldn't have been better.

 

``The Chicago Cubs making the playoffs was the tipping point where instead of talking about money people were talking about the game," he says. ``The magic started at that point.

 

``The Jays have come back as a team that hustles and can beat anybody on any given night."

 

Now it's baseball's turn to cash in. Sportsnet is negotiating a new deal and Beeforth admits that rights fees are going up even though there are no other serious bidders. That's the kind of respect MLB needs.

 

HOT SUMMER: The Jays played a role in a pretty strong summer ratings report for the FAN 590. Although considered the least important ratings period of the year, the FAN's share of adult males was up in every category. Overall, its 5.9 share was up 46 per cent. Biggest winners were Mike Hogan (from 2.0 to 6.7), Chuck Swirsky (2.5 to 5.9) and evenings, where the Jays rose 67 per cent to 7.4. Evenings even topped Prime Time Sports, which was up 6 per cent to 7.0. Also helping, no doubt, was the increased hockey talk. ... Leafs TV's pre-season games have averaged 57,000 viewers. While that seems small, they are among the highest in the channel's four-year history. Two games even topped the 59,000 who watched a Leaf regular-season game through a free preview during the 2001 CBC labour dispute. ... Dennis Beyak and Rick Vaive will call the Toronto Marlies games on Leafs TV and The Score. ... Leafs TV announcer Bob Harwood has joined OLN's hockey broadcasts in the U.S. ... While CBC, TSN and the Canadian Curling Association are still hammering out a new TV deal, Internet curling makes its debut Sunday. For $63.99, viewers can watch 24 World Curling Tour events at http://www.curltv.com.

 

/Capefish :mischief

Well, Rogers SportsNet technically owns the Blue Jays. They and TSN combined to lockout the Expos from the Canadian TV Market.

 

The FAN 590 is owned by Rogers as well.

 

I was surprised the Rogers won all MLB rights in Canada though. I thought MLB would ahve kept the World Series and the All-Star Game on broadcast TV, but who in Canada doesn't have cable or satellite these days.

 

BTW, FOX is also seen in Canada.