Blackhawks don't score in OT, but Versus does

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: Blackhawks don't score in OT, but Versus does : The Chicago Blackhawks came up short on Tuesday night, but their overtime playoff loss in Detroit worked out all right for Versus. : The Comcast-owned sports channel is parlaying the Hawks' playoff run into unprecedented attention and viewership in the Chicago market, where it gets into roughly 85 percent of households with cable or satellite service and 75 percent of all homes. : Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals on Tuesday averaged a 5.5 household rating (which translates to around 192,000 homes), peaking at an 8.3 in the overtime. That made Versus the No. 1 cable channel in town, behind only broadcasters ABC-owned WLS-Ch. 7, Fox-owned WFLD-Ch. 32 and CBS-owned WBBM-Ch. 2. : The Versus telecast was No. 1 overall with men age 18 to 34, men 18 to 49 and men 25 to 54. : The 5.5 rating was the second best cable performance all season for the resurgent Hawks franchise, surpassed only by their Game 6 second-round playoff clincher on Comcast SportsNet Chicago, their regular cable home. That game scored a 7.8 household rating (or around 272,000 homes) locally. : NBC's coverage of the Blackhawks' third-round playoff opener against Detroit on Sunday afternoon averaged a 7.7 rating on WMAQ-Ch. 5. The series returns to Chicago for Game 3 on Friday night on Versus, with NBC airing Game 4. : The Winter Classic showdown between the Hawks and Red Wings on Jan. 1 at Wrigley Field, carried nationally by NBC, earned an 11.8 household rating (or around 412,000 homes) in Chicago on WMAQ. : The National Hockey League's deal to put some postseason games exclusively on Versus has been frustrating for some local hockey fans. Some systems carry Versus (formerly Outdoor Life Network) on a tier at an extra cost. The channel also has not been able to agree on a carriage deal with Wide Open West (WOW) here. : You can check chicagotribune.com/versusfinder to see if and where Versus is available on your system. : : Household ratings for some Tuesday night programs in Chicago: : "Dancing With the Stars Results" WLS 16.4 : "American Idol" WFLD 11.8 : "Dancing With the Stars" (rerun) WLS 8.2 : "The Mentalist" WBBM 7.3 : "NCIS" WBBM 6.0 : "Glee" WFLD 5.7 : "Without a Trace" WBBM 5.6 : CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS AT DETROIT RED WINGS VERSUS 5.5 : Chicago Cubs at St. Louis Cardinals WGN 5.0 : Denver Nuggets at Los Angeles Lakers ESPN 4.8 : "Law & Order: SVU" (9 p.m. rerun) WMAQ 3.7 : "Law & Order: SVU" (8 p.m.rerun) WMAQ 1.1 : Minnesota Twins at Chicago White Sox Comcast SportsNet 2.3 : "Most Outrageous Moments" (7:30 p.m. rerun) WMAQ 1.0 : "Most Outrageous Moments" (7 p.m. rerun) WMAQ 0.8 : (Phil Rosenthal, Chicago Tribune)

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