Putting a new spin on its sports scheduling, CBS is moving the women's final of the U.S. Open Tennis Tournament into primetime in early September.
The September 8 broadcast of the event will mark the first time a grand slam tennis final airs in primetime. while Sean McManus, CBS Sports president, says the move is intended to give its audience "the opportunity to experience" the event in ptime, the Saturday night slot is apparently aimed at boosting the female audience for the event. CBS will keep the men's semi-final matches in their usual afternoon slot. The women's final has normally aired between the men's semi-finals, or after them.
The move is part of a larger trend of the broadcast networks moving sports into prime. ABC reportedly plans to air the Little League World Series championship game to Sunday night in August. The most recent example of the trend is NBC's failing experiment with scheduling XFL games on Saturday night.
- Richard Tedesco
