Slight decrease in Derby TV rating

The NBC broadcast of the Kentucky Derby on Saturday afternoon received a final rating of 7.3 with an 18 share, NBC said Thursday. The figures were a slight decrease from last year's broadcast, which received a 7.4 rating and an 18 share.

According to estimates by NBC's research staff, this year's broadcast was seen by 16.1 million people. Each rating point represents 1.067 million households. Share represents the percentage of televisions in use at the time that are tuned to the broadcast.

Alana Russo, a spokeswoman for NBC Sports, said the 90-minute Derby show was the highest-rated sports broadcast of the weekend, beating coverage of a PGA golf tournament at the same time on CBS.