A short story that has little context.

The national telecast of the Pitt game on Versus drew an overnight rating of 8.6 in the Pittsburgh market. According to a network spokesperson, it was the highest cable rating of the evening and second overall in the market.

The top rating belonged to the Steelers, who played their final preseason game against Carolina at Heinz Field. The game drew a 30.0 rating on KDKA-2, the local CBS affiliate.

An average of more than 99,000 households tuned into the Pitt game. More than 346,000 viewed the Steelers game.

Now, am I or anyone else really shocked that even an exhibition Steelers game would be the runaway ratings winner in Pittsburgh? Especially when one is on a regular network and the other is on a less than pervasive (semi) sports channel?

No information as to how many households in the Pittsburgh market have Versus, especially compared to KDKA.

To put this in context, since it is hard to compare anything that airs on Versus except the NHL. When the Pens were playing the Red Wings for the 2009 Stanley Cup, game 2 was on Versus. That game got a 26.1 rating in Pittsburgh. Meaning that the Steelers’ exhibition also outdrew the Stanley Cup.

Also to put it in perspective, the highest watched regular season NHL game in Versus’ history (and apparently since 2004) — Pens-Red Wings — drew a 6.7 in Pittsburgh. Which the Pitt game beat.