FOX’s live airing of Chelsea against Manchester United on February 5, 2012 delivered an average 0.8 rating with 1.377 million viewers, which was approximately 119,000 viewers more than the viewing figures for the Arsenal versus Manchester United match shown live on FOX on January 20, 2012. The audience for the Chelsea versus Man United match was 1.258 million.
Excluding Super Bowl programming on NBC, the Chelsea against Manchester United match was the top-rated broadcast event of that weekend among young viewers including men 18-34 and men 18-49. The top markets airing the game live were New York and Washington DC, which led all markets with a 1.6 rating, followed by Portland, Birmingham and Austin with a 1.5.
FOX also showed the game live on FOX Deportes. When the ratings for FOX and FOX Deportes are combined, the total viewing audience was 1.843 million, with a combined rating of 1.1.
According to a spokesperson for FOX Sports, there are no new plans to report currently regarding the chance of any additional Premier League matches being shown live, or on tape delay, on FOX for the remainder of the season. Eric Shanks, FOX Media Group co-President and co-COO, recently told the press that he expects there to be one more live match shown next season compared to this.
