Ratings Roundup: Golf Channel Sees Massive Gains for Early PGA Coverage

Through the first six weeks of the 2011 PGA Tour season, ratings for every single round televised on Golf Channel have been up over 2010. Golf Channel’s PGA Tour ratings are up more than 50% through the first six events of the year versus 2010. In addition, ratings for Golf Channel’s coverage of last week’s Dubai Desert Classic on the European Tour were up 420% over last year’s event. Viewership for Sunday’s final round (1,054,000 average viewers) was up 834% over same round in 2010. The final round was highest-rated round (1.0 household rating) on the European Tour since the final round of the 2008 Dubai Desert Classic (1.7)…

…TNT’s coverage of the Lakers’ win over the rival Celtics on Feb. 10 averaged a 3.3 national rating and 4.7 million viewers, giving the network its third-largest audience of the season. The game trails only two Lebron James-fueled games – TNT’s Oct. 26 season opening night telecast of the Celtics-Heat (regular season cable record of 7.43 million viewers) and Heat-Cavaliers on Dec. 2, 2010 (7.09 million viewers). Through 34 games, TNT has averaged a 1.5 U.S. rating (up 25% from 1.2), 2.36 million total viewers (up 33%, from 1.77 million). That puts TNT on pace to record its most-watched season during its 27 years covering the NBA…

…At the All-Star break, Comcast SportsNet Chicago’s Chicago Bulls telecasts are averaging a 4.1 household rating, a 64% increase compared to last season’s 2.5 average at the All-Star break.  The 4.1 average is CSN Chicago’s highest-ever Bulls average to date at the All-Star break.  In addition, the top ten highest-rated Bulls regular season telecasts in CSN Chicago history have occurred this season. CSN Chicago launched in 2004…

…Tuesday’s Flyers shootout win over the Lightning delivered a 3.7 housedhold rating for Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia, making it the highest-rated regular season Flyers game on CSN Philadelphia since Oct. 22, 2002 vs. Buffalo.  In February, the Flyers are averaging a 2.8 rating, a 27% increase over the season average of 2.2 rating and a 40% increase over Feb. 2010. In addition, the network’s Flyers Pregame Live logged its biggest regular season rating ever (1.5)…