College football TV ratings are in; are fans tuning out?

Austin Karp of SportsBusiness Daily has the television ratings for college football's 2012 regular season, and it?s tough to know what to make of them. Aside from NBC, the home network for an undefeated Notre Dame team, the networks all saw declines in ratings this year. They ranged from ESPN losing roughly 4 percent of its audience from a year ago to NBC Sports Network hemorrhaging more than 70 percent of its viewers after ending its relationship with the Pac-12. Although the headline is jarring, my initial reaction was that it should come as no surprise that ratings would come down. The usual suspects such as ESPN and ABC are now competing with the CBS Sports Network, Big Ten Network, Pac-12 Network and FOX College Sports regional channels. (Note that those stations are not rated.) Furthermore, viewers can access content via online channels -- their PCs, laptops, smartphones and tablets with streaming capabilities. I don't know how the Nielsen Ratings account for that,...

Source: http://network.yardbarker.com/college_football/article_external/college_football_tv_ratings_are_in_are_fans_tuning_out/12493486

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