Did Favre lead cable to a new first? [Updated]

UPDATED: So we have heard from our friends at Nielsen and are amending our post yesterday about the Vikings and Packers games. While it did beat all the competition. It was not the first time that a cable telecast had done that to broadcast during the TV season. In 2007, the game between the Patriots and Ravens also beat all the broadcast competition. HOWEVER, that game was in December when the broadcast networks were in post-November sweeps rerun mode so there was still something of a first last week in that the game beat fresh new broadcast programming.

It may be time to add one more record to Brett Favre's resume.

The Minnesota Vikings' defeat of the Green Bay Packers last Monday not only set a record for a cable program with 21.8 million viewers watching Brett Favre beat his old team, but also beat all the broadcast television competition last week in viewers and adults 18-49.

As far as we can tell, this is the first time that a cable network has the most-viewed program in viewers and adults 18-49 during the TV season. (While Disney Channel's "High School Musical" beat the broadcast networks in viewers in 2007, that was during the summer when competition was light.)

We have done some digging, and this does appear to be the case. ESPN wasn't sure nor were the broadcast networks, but after some checking no one came up with any other example of a cable show finishing first among all TV shows during the TV season.

Of course, that it was a big sporting event might mean an asterisk in the record books. It's not like an episode of "The Closer" beat everything on broadcast during the regular season, but is that day far behind? What this really says is not how far cable has come as much as how far broadcast has fallen. Like the NFL, it's all about parity.

But if we're wrong, let us know. If there was an MTV Awards that beat everything, shoot us a note. If that special prime time episode of "Sponge Bob" finished first (yes, I made that one up), we want to hear about it.

Until then, kudos to ESPN.

Meanwhile, for week three of the broadcast season, CBS won in viewers and 18-49. ABC was second in viewers and fourth in 18-49. NBC was third in viewers and tied Fox for third in adults 18-49.

-- Joe Flint

Photo: Brett Favre. Credit: Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images

Favre leads Vikings and ESPN to big win

Beating every team in the NFL wasn't the only record Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre set. He also led ESPN's "Monday Night Football" to record ratings for a cable telecast.

Favre's victory over his old team not only kept the Minnesota Vikings under undefeated, it also drove Walt Disney Co.'s ESPN to its strongest night ever. The game, which has been heavily anticipated since Favre came out of retirement (for a second time) in August, drew 21.8 million viewers, making it the most-watched cable television program in history. Needless to say, it also totally crushed the broadcast competition, whose top show Monday night was CBS' "CSI Miami," which attracted 13.4 million viewers ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" with 16.3 million viewers. Among adults ages 18 to 49, the game -- which the Vikings won by a score of 30 to 23 (it wasn't that close) -- scored a 9.0 rating. Each rating point in that demographic equals 1.3 million adults, which translates to almost 12 million people.

Last night's game beat the previous best for a cable show, which was also an ESPN football telecast. Last year's Philadephia Eagles-Dallas Cowboys match attracted 18.6 million viewers. The most-watched non-sports cable show was Disney Channel's 2007 telecast of "High School Musical 2," which averaged 17.2 million viewers.

-- Joe Flint

ESPN is thinking Olympics and it's not just about going for the gold

ESPN is looking to snag the Olympics away from longtime rights holder NBC, a top executive at the cable sports behemoth told USA Today.

In an interview with Mike McCarthy, John Skipper, ESPN's executive vice president of content, promised that when it's time to negotiate for the 2014 and 2016 Games, "we'll be there."

Of course, this isn't the first time Walt Disney Co.'s ESPN has pursued the Olympics. It, along with News Corp.'s Fox,  was outbid for the 2010 and 2012 Games by General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal, which shelled out $2 billion to keep the Olympics on its broadcast and cable networks. NBC has been the U.S. home for the Olympics since 2000 and it may take more than a big bid to unseat them.

In explaining why ESPN wanted the Olympics, Skipper talked about the production values it could bring to the Games, but that's not the cable sports giant's only motivation. What Skipper didn't bring up is how the professional sports leagues including the NFL, Major League Baseball and the NBA are putting more of their content on their own cable networks and ESPN also wants the Olympics as a hedge against that loss of that powerful programming. ESPN has been gobbling up other sports as well, including a $500-million, four-year deal for college football's Bowl Championship Series.

ESPN charges cable and satellite operators almost $4 per subscriber per month just to carry the flagship channel. Most distributors also carry ESPN2 and some of the other spinoff channels, meaning that they are coughing up a lot of money. If ESPN loses some of its big sports packages, distributors will balk about the fees they're asked to pay. ESPN is the cash cow for parent Disney, so digging deep into its pockets to bid on the Games shouldn't be a problem.

But the Olympics are as much about relationships as it is about money and production values, and no one is in tighter with the International Olympic Committee than NBC's Dick Ebersol. He just scored even more brownie points with the IOC for helping to squash the United States Olympic Committee and Comcast Corp.'s efforts to start a cable channel here that the IOC was dead set against (see Company Town's take here). While Skipper may be feeling confident about ESPN's chances of landing the Games, a betting man might want to stick with the incumbent.

Furthermore, now that NBC's out of the 10 p.m. drama business and will be saving all that cash by programming Jay Leno in prime time, it has even more money to spend on sports.

-- Joe Flint

Photos, from top: ESPN's John Skipper; NBC's Dick Ebersol. Credits, from top: Lisa Kyle / Los Angeles Times; Aris Messinis / Associated Press

The Don is back: Ohlmeyer to be ESPN's Ombudsman

Veteran television executive Don Ohlmeyer, who was never shy about critiquing the media, is going to try his hand as an internal media critic for ESPN.

As ombudsman, Ohlmeyer will write a monthly column for ESPN.com for 18 months starting in August analyzing the journalism at the cable sports powerhouse.

A legendary figure in the industry for his producing prowess and his hard-charging lifestyle, Ohlemyer has been involved in practically every major sporting event around. He also helped create the MTV Awards and was at the helm of NBC's entertainment operations during the network's heyday in the mid-1990s. Most recently, Ohlmeyer has been teaching directing and filmmaking at Pepperdine University.

In an interview, Ohlmeyer, 64, said the challenge for ESPN -- which has grown from a single cable network to an empire of channels, websites and a magazine -- is not losing touch with its audience.

"One of the Achilles' heels that large companies have, and that is what ESPN has gotten to be, is it is hard to remember how you thought when you were small," he said, adding that he will be looking at how ESPN balances its business interests with its journalism.

"There is a potential conflict that exists.... You can be friends with these people and have access, but your real obligation is to the viewer, not the athlete or even your own career," he added. Unlike his predecessors at ESPN -- Le Anne Schreiber and George Solomon -- who were journalists, Ohlmeyer has an industry background with production credits that include the Olympics, Super Bowl, "Monday Night Football" and "ABC's Wide World of Sports."

Ohlmeyer, who often called reporters to challenge their stories, said contrary to popular opinion he didn't hate dealing with the media when he was an executive.

"I had disdain for things that were inaccurate, not things I didn't agree with.... I might say you might have missed these points. It wasn't just, 'Joe, you ignorant slut.' "

-- Joe Flint

Photo of Ohlmeyer by Paul Morse / Los Angeles Times