Sports Content on U.S. Television

Abstract

An analysis of a week of broadcast and basic cable programming during June 2004 using TV Guide magazine for the 35th largest television market in the United States (Greenville, Spartanburg, Anderson, SC; Asheville, NC) illustrates the volume of sports on television (Bryant, Brown, and Cummins, 2004). Although the publication underreports daytime programming, 532 sports programs were listed, serving up 38,675 minutes, or nearly 645 hours, of content. Given that a week has only 168 hours, not only are sports on 24/7, sports aficionados typically have several viewing choices at any given time. Table 5.1 displays a breakdown of the content types available during this sample week. Table 5.2 shows these types by parts of the programming day.