ABC's television ratings for the National Basketball Association Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and New Jersey Nets were the lowest for any North American sports championship other than ice hockey's Stanley Cup.
The Walt Disney Co. network's telecasts of the six-game series won by the Spurs was watched in an average of 6.5 percent of homes in the 107 million US households with televisions, according to Nielsen Media Research.
The rating is lower than every Super Bowl, World Series, NCAA basketball championship game and college football championship game.
"It was not a glamour matchup, and I think many fans tuned out because of a lack of excitement,'' said Jim Spence, a former vice president at ABC Sports who now runs a television production and consulting company.
"There was a perception that San Antonio was going to win rather easily."
The previous low for an NBA Finals came in 1981, when the Boston Celtics beat the Houston Rockets in six games and drew a 6.7 rating. Some weeknight games that year were telecast on tape delay following the nightly news.
ABC's coverage this year also featured numerous courtside reporters, frequent promotions for other network programming and the use of many new camera angles.
Added Spence: "There were too many announcers, too many camera cuts and an overuse of technology. It was hard to settle in as a viewer."
A year ago, General Electric Co.'s NBC averaged 10.2 percent of viewers in the US homes with televisions, as the Los Angeles Lakers swept the Nets in four games. That had been the lowest- rated NBA Final since 1981.
ABC and its sister cable channel, ESPN, signed a six-year, $2.4billion contract to show the NBA starting this season.
This year's NHL Stanley Cup, with five games on ABC, averaged a 2.9 national rating.
