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NBA Finals TV ratings were record low

Spurs’ sweep of Cavs down 27 percent from Heat’s win last season

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San Antonio Spurs owner Peter Holt holds up the Larry O'Brien Trophy after defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals in Cleveland
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NEW YORK - The NBA finals were a television bust.

San Antonio’s four-game sweep of Cleveland finished with a record-low 6.2 television rating and 11 share on ABC, Nielsen Media Research said Friday. That was down 27 percent from the 8.5/15 for Miami’s six-game victory over Dallas last year and 5 percent under the previous low, a 6.5/12 for San Antonio’s six-game win over New Jersey in 2003. The NBA finals averaged 9.3 million viewers this year.

San Antonio’s series-winning 83-82 victory on Thursday night got a 6.5/12, down 17 percent from the 7.8/14 for Game 4 last year.

The NHL Stanley Cup finals also hit a record low this year, with NBC averaging a 1.6/3 for the final three games of Anaheim’s five-game victory over Ottawa. The first two games were televised on the cable network Versus.

The rating is the percentage watching a telecast among all homes with televisions, and the share is the percentage tuned in to a broadcast among those households with televisions on at the time. A ratings point represents 1,114,000 households.

© 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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