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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Ratings Winner Of Week? Super Bowl, Of Course

From Wire Reports

One of the lowest-rated Super Bowl broadcasts of all time was enough to score as the TV season’s most-watched program, propelling ABC to a weekly ratings victory.

For Jan. 23-29, ABC earned a dominant 15.7 average rating and 25 share, according to figures Tuesday from Nielsen Media Research. NBC was second with an 11.3 rating, 18 share, followed by CBS’ 9.9 average, 16 share.

Fox Broadcasting Co., which programs 15 of the 22 prime-time hours, posted a 7.4 rating, 11 share.

A single ratings point equals 954,000 households or 1 percent of the nation’s 95.4 million TV homes estimated by Nielsen. Share is the percentage of sets tuned to a network for a specific time period.

Sunday’s “Super Bowl XXIX” was the most-watched program of the 1994-95 television season with an estimated 120 million viewers tuning to some or all of the broadcast.

But the 41.3 rating and 62 share for the San Francisco 49ers’ 49-26 victory over the San Diego Chargers was a disappointment in Super Bowl terms: of the previous 29 games, only seven have posted lower numbers.

The top-rated entertainment program of the week was NBC’s “Seinfeld” at No. 3. ABC’s “20-20,” featuring a Barbara Walters interview with O.J. Simpson’s first wife, Marquerite, was the high-ranking newsmagazine at No. 7.

Here are the Top 10 shows, their networks and ratings for the season’s 19th week.

1. “Super Bowl XXIX,” ABC, 41.3

2. “Super Bowl XXIX Post-Game Show,” ABC, 24.7

3. “Seinfeld,” NBC, 22.1

4. “Home Improvement,” ABC, 19.1

5. “ER,” NBC, 18.1

6. “Grace Under Fire,” ABC, 17.3

7. “20-20,” ABC, 16.9

8. “Madman of the People,” NBC, 16.3

9. “Friends,” NBC, 15.8

10. “Murphy Brown,” CBS, 15.6

`Lion King’ video

Disney’s “The Lion King,” which ruled the box-office jungle last year, will launch its bid for the 1995 homei-video crown on March 3. “The Lion King” video will be priced at $26.99. A limited-edition deluxe package, including bonus video “The Making of the Lion King” and other collector souvenirs, will retail for $79.99.

Alan Jackson gets millions

Warner/Chappell Music has signed country star Alan Jackson to the biggest deal ever in country music. Sources say the exclusive worldwide publishing deal with Jackson could be worth more than $10 million when catalog and possible payments on future material are included.

The exclusive worldwide co-publishing arrangement includes all of Jackson’s back material, including hit songs he wrote for others. In the past five years, Jackson has sold 14 million of his own albums, which have generated 16 No. 1 songs, 13 of which he wrote.

A `Baywatch’ spinoff?!?

New “Baywatch” spinoff “Baywatch Nights,” will air on stations in more than 70 percent of the country for its fall launch, it was announced by syndicator All American. The show will also air in 10 countries, including Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, the Philippines and Indonesia.