Bad games hurt hockey marathon's TV ratings

Bad games hurt hockey marathon's TV ratings
WILLIAM HOUSTON

Not unlike the countryside at the Hockey Day in Canada site of Nelson, B.C., the CBC's audience numbers for the 13-hour celebration on Saturday were up and down.

The first block of programming, from noon to 2 p.m. EST, produced an average audience of 314,000 viewers. That marked a 5-per-cent increase from last year. It was also the show's largest viewership yet for that time period.

The first of the tripleheader, an 8-3 victory by the Ottawa Senators over the Montreal Canadiens, drew 666,000, down 13 per cent from last year's opening game (same teams). An audience of 406,000 from 5 to 6 p.m., was also a drop of 13 per cent from 2006.