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Jordan’s Return: No Hoop Dream For Cbs

Los Angeles Times

For CBS this year, March Madness means Michael Jordan returning to basketball just in time to divert attention from the network’s coverage of the NCAA tournament.

College basketball’s premier event was all but eclipsed for about 3-1/2 hours Sunday when NBC’s coverage of the Bulls-Pacers game, in which Jordan returned to the Bulls after a 21-month absence, became the most-watched regular-season telecast in NBA history.

Cable network TNT, taking note, announced Monday that it will televise today’s Bulls-Orlando Magic game, Jordan’s first in Chicago’s new United Center.

Jordan’s return last Sunday scored a 10.9 rating, according to national numbers released Thursday by A.C. Nielsen, meaning that it was seen in about 10.4 million homes. A record 35 million viewers saw all or part of the telecast, NBC researchers said.

Meanwhile, CBS’ coverage of the NCAA tournament during the first 2-1/2 hours of the Bulls game drew a 3.6 rating.

The 10.9 rating is the highest for a regular-season NBA telecast since Feb. 2, 1975, when the Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics scored a 11.0 rating. But Sunday’s game ranks as the most-watched regular-season telecast because the value of a ratings point has gone up as the U.S. population increases.

By comparison, the average rating for last season’s seven-game NBA Finals matching the New York Knicks and Houston Rockets was 12.3, down 31 percent from the all-time high of 17.9, set a year earlier when the Jordanled Bulls beat the Phoenix Suns. That year, the NBA’s TV ratings passed those of the World Series for the first time.

Jordan’s return, however, does not necessarily mean that the Bulls, after today, will make added national TV appearances.

NBC, which can show each team no more than eight times without NBA permission, has featured the Bulls five times this season and planned to show them three more times.

Asked if NBC wants to add Bulls games to its schedule, a spokesman said: “It’s easy to dream. I’d also like to play center field for the Yankees, but that ain’t happening.”