Date: 22nd February 2001

NBC Growing Restless Over Continued XFl Drubbing


NBC affiliates are becoming increasing disturbed by the continued erosion of ratings for the XFL telecasts on Saturday nights.

Jack Sander, executive vice president of media operations for Belo, which owns three NBC affiliates, told the online edition of Electronic Media magazine, "Everybody is concerned about the fast decline in the ratings. ... I don't think it can work at last Saturday's ratings levels. Nobody would say we could live with that." In a separate interview with Broadcasting and Cable magazine, Sander said, "We need to see some improvement over the next two or three weeks or we'll have to reevaluate" the commitment to carrying the games live. Meanwhile, TNN, which had scored strong ratings with its initial XFL broadcast, saw them plummet 50 percent the second time around last Sunday.

Source: Studio Briefing