YES ratings highest ever for pre-season game

Last year, the Nets games on YES had the lowest ratings of any NBA team...and it wasn't even close. On an average,they were 0.29, meaning three-tenths of one percent of all TV households in the New York market were tuned in.

That was then, this is now...

The Nets-Wizards pre-season telecast attracted an average of 76,000 TV households (1.02 average or three times the regular season average last year), according to the latest ratings from Nielsen provided by the network. That makes it the highest-rated and most-watched Nets pre-season telecast ever on YES. It eclipsed the network’s October 17, 2003 Celtics-Nets pre-season telecast which generated an average of 58,000 TV households (0.79 average TV household rating). YES achieved these numbers last night while up against Monday Night Football and the MLB National League Championship Series, among other programming.

It was also the highest-rated non-Knicks Nets telecast on YES (pre-season or regular season) in more than four years (January 11, 2008: Nets-Celtics regular season game telecast, which did a 1.47 average TV household rating). The Nets signed a long term contract with YES last year which will insure carriage on the cable channel through 2031-32 season, with options for the network to carry it another 10 years.

• On Television, Nets Are a Hit - Richard Sandomir - New York Times