Miraculous ‘Dateline’ Skydive Special Underwhelms in Ratings

By Chris Ariens 

“Dateline NBC” produced an hour using less than a minute of exclusive video from the helmet cameras of a group of skydivers whose plane collided with another over Wisconsin last weekend. NBC News licensed the video for more than $100,000 and in return, got interviews with the skydivers and the pilots, one of whom who landed his damaged plane. The hour drew 5.6 million viewers, second to CBS’s “Undercover Boss.” The show was fourth in the ad friendly A18-49 demo with a 1.0 rating, behind CBS, FOX and ABC.

The video and interviews first aired on “Today” earlier in the week.

The idea of checkbook journalism was a topic of discussion Sunday on CNN’s “Reliable Sources.”

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