Tower Ticker: Blackhawks fans do a better job finding Versus in ...

Chicago hockey fans did a better job of finding Versus for Thursday's Game 4 of the Blackhawks' second-round playoff series with the Vancouver Canucks than they did Game 1 a week earlier.

The Hawks' 2-1 overtime victory exclusively on Versus averaged 3.9 household ratings in Chicago, peaking at 5.7 in the sudden-death extra period, up from the 2.4 rating for their Game 1 loss to the Canucks on the cable network.

That Game 1 rating was a little better than half of the 4.5 rating the Hawks' first-round playoff series with Calgary averaged on Comcast SportsNet Chicago.

Factors in Game 1 viewership included a late West Coast start time, an early 3-0 deficit for the Hawks and the fact the Chicago Bulls took the Boston Celtics into triple overtime in Game 6 of their playoff series that night. But Hawks owner Rocky Wirtz said, "A lot of people don't even realize that Versus exists."

With Game 4 of the Hawks-Canucks series, Versus was Chicago's No. 1 cable channel in prime time  --trailing broadcast networks ABC, NBC and CBS -- and No. 1 overall here in the key male demographics.

Thursday's victory tied the Blackhawks' best-of-seven series with Vancouver at 2-2. Should they advance, fans' ability to find Versus will be increasingly important. Versus' National Hockey League's contract gives it exclusive rights to all of the next round of the playoffs and Game 3 and 4 of the Stanley Cup finals after that.

To see whether your system carries Versus, go to chicagotribune.com/versusfinder and enter your ZIP code.

Although, according to Versus, it is not available in 15 percent of the homes in this market that get cable or satellite, the local figures from Nielsen Media Research for Thursday's telecast indicate it was the Blackhawks' sixth-highest-rated telecast on cable here this season.

Comcast SportsNet's telecast of the Hawks' Game 6 first-round clincher over Calgary on April 27 was their highest-rated cable telecast this season with 5.28 household rating average, followed by Game 5 vs. the Flames on April 25 (4.6 rating). Game 3 of the Vancouver series Tuesday on Comcast SportsNet drew a 4.57 household rating in Chicago. That channel's coverage of Game 1 of the Calgary series attracted a 4.45 rating and Game 2 vs. the Flames scored a 3.96.

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