WORLD CUP SCORES RECORD RATINGS

Yet another live, big-ticket sports event has drawn record ratings. ABC’s telecast of the U.S.-England match at the World Cup contests in South Africa, which ended in a 1-1- tie on Saturday, drew 12.96 million viewers, setting a U.S. record for an opening-round game and the best rating for a match involving a U.S. team since 1994. In addition, Spanish-language broadcaster Univision said that it averaged 5.4 million viewers for the match, also a record for an opening match for the network. In the U.K. ITV’s telecast of the match attracted 20.1 million viewers, representing 73 percent of the TV audience. (There was no big audience for Friday’s World Cup Kick-off Celebration Concert, which averaged just 3.41 million viewers.) On Friday, ESPN began 3D coverage of the World Cup, with little hope that it would attract a significant audience. (Only about one million 3D TV sets have been sold thus far.) “3D for us is about leadership on technology and about learning how to produce. Viewership will follow,” ESPN’s content chief John Skipper told the website HollywoodToday.com.