Skaters Put Freeze On March Madness

ABC’s telecast of the World Figure Skating Championships on Thursday night drew a bigger audience than CBS’ coverage of the NCAA basketball tournament.

ABC said the figure skating, aired from 8-11 p.m. EST, earned a 10.1 rating and 16 share. The basketball tournament drew an 8.8 rating and 14 share during the same time period, according to ABC.

The figure skating featured the men’s finals, in which Americans finished first (Todd Eldredge) and third (Rudy Galindo). CBS televised regional semifinal games of the NCAA tournament during that time slot.

One rating point equals 959,000 homes, or 1 percent of the nation’s 95.9 million TV households. Share is the percentage of sets tuned to a network during a specific time period.