“The evening of Pope John Paul’s death U.S. television viewers were more interested in watching basketball than special news programs about the leader of the Catholic Church,” Reuters reports. Between 15.7 and 17.5 million viewers watched basketball between 6 and 11pm. “Rival NBC aired a special program on the Pope in its prime time 8 p.m. slot, attracting 4.3 million viewers, while the third major U.S. network, ABC, attracted around 4 million viewers to its 10 p.m. Pope special.”
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