Citing low ratings, Versus has canceled The Daily Line. It was touted as an alternative to ESPN’s SportsCenter. Premiering in April during the NHL postseason, The Daily Line settled into an 11 p.m. timeslot featuring multiple hosts including former Florida State University Cowgirl Jenn Sterger who eventually became a lightning rod over the Brett Favre sexting story. But with an average audience of 53,000 viewers and an 0.06 nightly rating, Versus could not justify keeping the show on the air.
John Ourand of Sports Business Journal broke the news today saying Versus will most likely replace The Daily Line with a nightly hockey highlights show.
USA Today’s Mike McCarthy reports that the show will go off the air next Thursday.
When the story of the Favre sexting scandal broke, Sterger never once addressed the story on The Daily Line and it’s not known if she’ll keep her silence as the show leaves Versus. I have contended that if she ever broke her silence about the story on the show, it would lead to huge ratings, but with an 0.06 average, I wonder if her talking would be similar to a tree falling in the forest and no one around to hear it. Would she really make a sound?
Anyway, I thought the show wasn’t bad for what it was trying to accomplish, but overall, it comes down to viewership and The Daily Line didn’t have enough to survive.
I’ll have more on this in the days ahead.
