The Detroit Red Wings' fans aren't the only ones who are currently happy about this year's Stanley Cup Finals, the Red Wings series with the Pittsburgh Penguins has set records for the Comcast-owned Versus network.
Versus set another record Thursday night (June 4), as its coverage of Game Four of the Stanley Cup Finals averaged 3.45 million viewers, the biggest delivery in the network’s history.
The game topped Versus’ previous record, which was set just two days before. Game Three of the Penguins-Red Wings series averaged 2.96 million viewers June 2, per Nielsen ratings data.
The Comcast-owned network’s coverage of the Stanley Cup Playoffs was up 27 percent over last year’s deliveries. During the NHL regular season, Versus’ hockey coverage was up 20 percent.
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During its two-game Stanley Cup run, Versus averaged 3.21 million total viewers. Through the first five contests, the NHL’s championship showcase is averaging 4.11 million viewers. (NBC carried Games One, Two and Five, averaging 4.51 million, 5.33 million and 4.28 million viewers, respectively.)
Apparently NBC is running tonight’s game (game 6). I’m not sure what the business rights were here – did NBC have to agree in advance that “yes, we will run Game 6 if there is one,” or did they have right of first refusal depending on scheduling? And ratings?
clutz, I believe the deal, prior to the start of the Stanley Cup Finals, was NBC gets games 1 and 2, Versus gets 3 and 4, and NBC gets any afterwards.