Sports account for a growing amount of income made on the sales of commercial time by television companies.  Many television companies have used sports to attract viewers from particular sections of the general public, and then they have sold audiences to advertisers. An attraction of sport programs for the major U. S.  media companies is that events are often held on Saturday and Sunday afternoons--the slowest time periods of the week for general television viewing.  Sport events are the most popular weekend programs, especially among male viewers who may not watch much television at other times during the week. This means the television networks are able to sell advertising time at relatively high prices during what normally would be dead time for programming. Media corporations also use sports to attract commercial sponsors that might take their advertising dollars elsewhere if television stations did not report certain sports.  The people in the advertising departments of major corporations realize that sports attract made viewers. They also realize that most business travelers are men and that many men make family decisions on the purchases of computers, cars and life insurance. Golf and tennis are special cases for television programming. These sports attract few viewers, and the ratings are unusually low. However, the audience for these sports is attractive to certain advertisers. It is made up of people from the highest income groups in the United States, to certain advertisers. It is made up of people from the highest income groups in the United States, including many lawyers and business managers. This is why television reporting of golf and tennis is sponsored by companies selling high-priced cars, business and personal computer, and holiday trips. This is also why the networks continue to carry these programs regardless of low ratings.  Advertisers are willing to pay high fees to reach high-income consumers and those managers who make decisions to buy thousands of "company cars" and computer, with such viewers, these programs don't need high ratings to stay on the air. Why would weekend afternoons become dead time without sport programs?
Because there would be few viewers Because the advertisers would be off work Because television programs would go slowly Because viewers would pay less for watching television