ABC News’ Michael Jackson Special Takes Third to All-Star Game, ‘Law & Order’ Re-Run

After spending $200,000 for year-old video of Joe, Katherine and several third generation Jacksons, ABC News’ “Primetime: Family Secrets – The Jackson Family: Life After Michael” finished third in its time slot last night, averaging 6.1M Total Viewers. A “Law & Order SVU” rerun on NBC came in second at 10pmET with 7.2 million. The MLB All-Star Game on FOX won the night.

The special used about 10 minutes of up to 40 hours of video recorded for a Jackson reality show that never materialized. ABC paid $200,000 to license the video from Xonger Global Entertainment Network, to whom ABC gave an on air credit just about every time the video appeared. Anchor Chris Connelly also got a new sit-down interview with Joe Jackson late last week which ABC News has been airing on several programs.

The “Family Secrets” special added 4 million viewers from its lead-in and topped its newsmagazine competition, CBS’ “48 Hours Mystery,” by 9% in Total Viewers and by 29% in A18-49. The special also added nearly 1M viewers from its first half-hour to its second (5.6 million to 6.5 million).

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