TCU’s 21-19 win over Wisconsin on Saturday earned an 11.7 overnight rating, down 15 percent from the 13.8 for Ohio State–Oregon on ABC last year. ESPN is available in about 13 percent fewer homes than ABC.

I do not have cable so I was somewhat surprised when I could not find the Rose Bowl on over the air television. It was one of the few bowl games I was interested in seeing. What I didn’t know was that ESPN and the bowl games decided to be shown exclusively on cable. This resulted in a smaller audience and probably smaller advertising revenue. Now this is an interesting business decision.

Rose Bowl preliminary rating down 15 percent – College Football – Rivals.com