ESPN Sunday NFL Countdown and SportsCenter See Strong Ratings NFL Opening Week

ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown pre-game show (11 a.m. - 1 p.m. ET) and the new NFL-focused 7 p.m. Sunday night edition of SportsCenter are off to strong starts after the opening week of the NFL season. The kickoff edition of Sunday Countdown posted a 2.4 rating, representing 2,331,000 households, increases of 9% and 8%, respectively, over week 1 in 2007. The evening SportsCenter, now co-hosted by Chris Berman and John Saunders with Tom Jackson and other analysts reviewing the day's NFL games, earned a 1.1 rating and 1,081,000 households, increases of +22% and +28% over the same show a year ago. Ratings grew every quarter-hour of the program as football fans flocked to ESPN as the afternoon games concluded. The show peaked with a 1.8 rating between 8:00-8:09 p.m.  Overall, impressions in all the key male demos jumped considerably over a year ago -- M1834: 254,000 (+12%), M1849: 571,000 (+24%) and M2554: 545,000 (+26%).Source: ESPN OTHER NEWS ACROSS THE BUSINESS OF SPORTS NET...