Sinclair documentary pulls so-so ratings

[Chiyo-chichi]

http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/TV/10/26/television.sinclair.reut/index.html

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) -- Sinclair Broadcast Group's controversial news special "A POW Story: Politics, Pressure and the Media" did only so-so Nielsen numbers in some of the TV station owner's larger markets Friday despite an avalanche of media attention to the politically charged special.

In 15 of the larger markets where Sinclair stations carried the special in the opening hour of primetime, "A POW Story" averaged a 2.9 household rating/5 share, according to local market data provided by Nielsen Media Research. Sinclair aired the special on 40 of the 62 stations it owns in various markets nationwide.

[GiovanniC]

1. Similar to Ratings For Movie "See Spot Run"

From same channel, same time slot last week, in one market. Effin' "See Spot Run". A movie you literally have to scoop off the sidewalk and carry in a plastic bag.

I'm soooo worried now.

[Beetwasher]

2. Rove's Oct. DUD!

Ha Ha!

[Philostopher]

3. Nobody told them ...

You don't drop a shit-bomb on a Friday night. All the 'swing voters' are out bowling* on Friday nights. D'oh!



*I know, Dems bowl too. They probably wouldn't have watched it anyway, knowing it was just a smear.

[DoveTurnedHawk]

4. These Aren't "So-So" Ratings...These Ratings SUCK!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

DTH

[Beetwasher]

5. Yeah, ALMOST Dennis Miller Type of Suck

Not quite, but almost!

[Bill McBlueState]

6. but do the ratings matter?

Sinclair successfully sidetracked the national discussion for two weeks while this drama played out on cable news and the internet. Whether anyone actually watched the show in the end may be immaterial. It was really another ploy to take the focus off *'s abysmal record, and get us talking about the media sideshow and Vietnam again.

Then again, either way, it doesn't seem to have worked well.

[Voltaire99]

8. Nielsens are the wrong metric. This was a victory for Sinclair.

Yes, the real victory for Sinclair was in distraction as well as a kind of chest-thumping: "This is Bush country! Do your worst, liberal wussies!"

So the broadcast represented a new kind of defiance: Sinclair hoped to import the institutional bias of FOX to broadcast TV, in line with the clammy editorials it already feeds its stations but much more dramatically, since it was essentially thumbing its nose at the traditional idea of impartiality before an election.

I don't think Nielsen ratings can begin to measure the cultural impact of this brazenness. Right wing media is flexing its muscles; having survived this political scrap with only a short-term dip in the stock, Sinclair and its ilk will now be emboldened to go further. If, for instance, Kerry manages to get elected, we will probably see more such films on Sinclair.

[Tempest]

7. Preached to the choir

The only markets where anyone watched was in Bush areas.

It did poorly everywhere else.

And to top it off, Celsius 41.11 did a whopping $93,000 in ticket sales in its opening weekend.