The Listener has so far held strong on CTV in its first two outings, but has stumbled against heavy sports competition on NBC stateside.

The Shaftesbury Films drama about a telepathic paramedic drew 983,000 viewers on CTV last Thursday night at 10 p.m., down only 2% from its bow a week prior that drew one million viewers, according to BBM Nielsen. Besides winning its timeslot on CTV last Thursday, the rookie drama also saw its numbers in the 18-34 demographic climb 17.5% to 201,000 viewers, with females 18-34 rising 22%.

It’s a different story on NBC, where the first two outings for The Listener ran up against two popular NBA championship games on rival ABC.

On June 11, The Listener bled nearly a million viewers in its 10 p.m. simulcast slot compared to its week-earlier premiere, as it got little help from its lead-in, a 30 Rock repeat. That night The Listener drew 4.4 million viewers on NBC, well behind ABC, which won the night with game four of the NBA finals and 12.2 million viewers, according to Nielsen.

On June 11, The Listener also underperformed against a repeat of The Mentalist on CBS, which drew nine million viewers in the 10 p.m. slot.

A week earlier on June 4, The Listener bowed with 5.2 million viewers at 9 p.m. up against game one of the NBA Finals on ABC, followed by 5.3 million viewers at 10 p.m. By comparison, last year’s July 10 bow for Flashpoint on CBS drew 8.13 million viewers, also to a 10 p.m. slot.

On June 4, The Listener managed to arrest some demo slippage in the first half-hour as viewers stuck with the Canadian drama through the two-hour kickoff.

The test for The Listener is to see how it does on Thursday nights going forward after Kobe Bryant and the Lakers clinched the NBA crown this past weekend.

Data from NBC indicates that, week-over-week, The Listener fell by only 0.1 ratings points in the key A18-49 and A25-54 demos, which portends a possible ratings rebound in the absence of pro sports competition.

The continuing support from NBC for The Listener is due in part because the U.S. network hedged its bets by paying Shaftesbury around half of the licence fee it pays for a homegrown scripted drama.