TV Ratings In Canada Declining

The outdoor Winter Classic may have brought in the largest US television audience in a decade, but television ratings in Canada have been mostly declining.

The Globe and Mail's William Houston has an interesting look at the television ratings here in Canada, with some startling findings on the west coast.

"The Vancouver Canucks rank as the biggest surprise.

Despite leading the Northwest Division, Canucks regional audiences are down 20 per cent. Rogers Sportsnet is averaging 242,000 viewers a game compared with 303,000 at this point last season.

Networks pay closer attention to long-term trends than year-to-year measurements, but the Canucks numbers also have declined 29 per cent from the prelockout season of 2003-04."

So what's wrong in Vancouver? The team is strong and winning, and they have one of the best players in the world in Roberto Luongo.

The problem with TV ratings may be the fact that Luongo is the star in Vancouver. Every game in Vancouver nowadays follows the same script. Luongo will make several really nice saves, all of which will be shown on the highlight packages. The rest of the time the team plays a suffocating defensive game, not unlike the New Jersey Devils in their heyday.

Sure, the Canucks have the Sedin twins who are good for a couple of brilliant scoring chances a game. Those, too, are included the highlight packages. Otherwise their cycling game, brilliant to the hardcore fan, is probably quite boring to the average fan.

Other than that no player is interesting to watch, except for the veteran Trevor Linden in a shootout. That's the only time Vancouver fans rise to their feet in the stadium, or are given any drama on the tube.

I'm a life long Vancouver fan, and as hardcore as a hockey fan as you can get. But I don't mind missing the odd game now and again. I don't subscribe to the pay-per-view packages, either.

Why? I won't go quite as far as to say that they are boring. But I know the script, and I don't feel like I'm missing anything if I miss the odd game. I know what will go right, what could go wrong, and pretty much exactly how the game will play out. They are extremely predictable, which of course does not make for great TV.

That being said, I don't think the Canucks should blow up their game plan. It works. It wins. And come playoff time everyone in British Columbia will be watching and wearing the new jersey. I have no doubts about that.

And I'd rather have a winning team than a dramatic team that loses. Vancouver has had a lot of those type of teams over the years.