Sports Media Digest- August 2, 2012

http://sportsmediajournal.com/ Another Successful Olympics Viewership Day for NBC- 30.8 million viewers watched NBC’s prime time coverage of Day 6 of the Olympics, making it the most watched first Wednesday of any non-U.S. Olympics in 36 years. Last night’s rating was 17.8, 7% higher than 2008 and 3% in 2004. NBC’s daytime viewership Wednesday averaged 7.3 million viewers with a rating of 5.2. Hard Knocks Begins Tuesday on HBO- The 2012 edition of Hard Knocks, this year featuring the Miami Dolphins, will debut on HBO this Tuesday at 10:00p.m. ET/PT. Future episodes will air weekly at the same time until September 4th. PGA Championship Programming on CBS Sports Spectacular This Weekend- The CBs Sports Spectacular this weekend will have a PGA Championship flavor. Saturday at 1:00p.m. ET CBS will present the Arc of Triumph, a program looking at the fame coming to some former PGA Champions. The program will be hosted by Turner’s Vince Cellini. Sunday at 1:00p.m. ET Bill Macatee hosts Prelude to a Championship, a preview of this year’s tournament. NBCSN has Two MLS Games this Weekend- The NBC Sports Network (NBCSN) will take a break following its live Olympics coverage this weekend to televise a pair of MLS matches. At 8:00p.m. ET tomorrow the New York Red Bulls will take on the Houston Dynamo. Saturday at 7:00p.m. ET FC Dallas travels to Portland to take on the Timbers. John Strong will handle play-by-play along side former MLS player and Olympian Brian Dunseth. Rob Carlin will serve as studio host on site in Houston and Portland on Saturday and on Sunday. Golf Channel Sees Most-Watched July Ever- July 2012 on the Golf Channel proved to be the most watched July in the 17-year history of the network. The Golf Channel’s audience was up 36% over 2011, averaging 95,000 viewers per minute. The Golf Channel has seen six consecutive months of record viewership. Pac-12 Networks Secure Two Additional Carriage Agreements- The Pac-12 Networks have announced another carriage agreement with two cable providers. The new network has secured deals with Western Broadband and Orbitel Communications which services cable subscribers in parts of Arizona. CBS Sports Network Covers the Hambletonian- The CBS Sports Network will be providing coverage of the the first leg of the trotting Triple Crown, the Hambletonian. The action begins Saturday at 3:30p.m. ET. Gary Seibel announces, along with analyst Dave Brower, reporter Donna Brothers and paddock host Justin Horowitz.