Nba Helps Nbc Net Top Weekly Ratings

Thu., June 12, 1997

Associated Press

The newly-competitive NBA Finals between the Chicago Bulls and Utah Jazz helped NBC score a slam dunk in the Nielsen Media Research ratings released Tuesday.

Last week’s three games were among the four most-watched shows, led by Sunday night’s thriller that pulled the Jazz even 2-2 in the best-of-seven series.

Season champ NBC had a 10.2 rating and 19 share for the week. CBS, with its 7.6 rating and 14 share and ABC, with its 6.4 rating and 12 share, were both well off their averages as the rerun season took hold. Fox had a 5.1 rating and 9 share.

Three newsmagazines made the week’s top 10 shows, led by ABC’s “20/20,” which finished in sixth place.

ABC’s special coverage of the “World Music Awards” ended up in the middle of the pack at 50th for the week.

ABC’s “World News Tonight” continued its comeback, winning the evening news ratings race for the fourth week in a row and fifth in the last six. It had a 7.6 rating and 17 share, followed by “NBC Nightly News” with a 7.1 rating and 16 share and “The CBS Evening News”’ 6.3 rating and 15 share.

Prime-time ratings as compiled by Nielsen Media Research for June 2-8. Top 20 listings include the week’s ranking, with rating for the week, season-to-date rankings in parentheses, and total homes.

An “X” in parentheses denotes one-time-only presentation. A rating measures the percentage of the nation’s 97 million TV homes. Each ratings point represents 970,000 households.

1. (X) “NBA Final Game 4: Chicago at Utah,” NBC, 16.9, 16.4 million homes

2. (X) “NBA Finals Game 2: Utah at Chicago,” NBC, 15.1, 14.6 million homes

3. (2) “Seinfeld,” NBC, 14.6, 14.2 million homes

4. (X) “NBA Finals Game 3: Chicago at Utah,” 14.2, 13.7 million homes

5. (3) “Suddenly Susan,” NBC, 12.2, 11.8 million homes

6. (12) “20/20,” ABC, 12.0, 11.6 million homes

7. (1) “ER” NBC, 11.6, 11.2 million homes

8. (11) “60 Minutes,” CBS, 11.2, 10.9 million homes

9. (14) “CBS Sunday Movie: Our Son, The Matchmaker,” CBS, 11.0, 10.7 million homes

9. (18) “Dateline NBC,” (Tuesday) NBC, 11.0, 10.7 million homes

9. (10) “Touched by an Angel,” CBS, 11.0, 10.7 million homes

12. (X) “NBA Finals Tip-Off,” NBC, 10.8, 10.5 million homes

13. “Dateline NBC,” (Monday) NBC, 10.6, 10.3 million homes

14. (X) “NBA Finals Tip-Off,” NBC, 10.5, 10.2 million homes

15. “NewsRadio,” NBC, 10.4, 10.1 million homes

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