The results of the Stanley Cup finals were bad news for most Canadians, except for those who work at CBC and rely on its ratings to fuel their paycheques.

A healthy 4.7 million viewers tuned in to the Ceeb on June 19 to watch the Edmonton Oilers lose to the Carolina Hurricanes in game seven of the hotly contested series, peaking at 6.2 million between 10:30 and 11 p.m.

The numbers, which include the post-game wrap-up, are the fourth highest for hockey since the debut of Nielsen People Meters in 1989, according to CBC spokesperson Jeff Keay.

‘The average audience met expectations,’ says Keay. ‘We were happy to see a Canadian team proceed to the finals, and with seeing the series go the full seven games.’

The ratings are on par with the most recent cup finals, when 4.8 million watched Calgary lose to Tampa Bay in 2004. They also climbed steadily as the series progressed. Game six drew 3.1 million, 2.6 million saw game five.

Meanwhile, another cup is playing well for TSN, which by June 20 had drawn an average audience of 454,000 to the first 13 games of the FIFA World Cup – peaking when 842,000 Canucks watched Brazil beat Croatia on June 13.

Compared to the 1998 World Cup – which was in France and, thus, had the same time zone delays – the 2004 matches in Germany are so far up 66%, according to TSN.

Meanwhile, CTV did well in May and June with three consecutive Sunday night MOWs. Doomstown – a look at Toronto gun violence by director Sudz Sutherland (Love, Sex and Eating the Bones) – drew an average of 730,000 viewers to its 9 p.m. slot on June 11, peaking in its first half-hour at 883,000.

Doomstown was heavily promoted, especially in Toronto, with on-air and bus-stop ads, and did a little better than Spirit Bear: The Simon Jackson Story, which garnered 712,000 in the same slot one week prior. But both pale compared to the spectacular two million that tuned in for Eight Days to Live on May 28. The Shaftesbury Films title stars and was exec produced by The O.C.’s Kelly Rowan.

CTV did well with other MOWs this past season, bringing in more than one million viewers each to titles including One Dead Indian in January, The Man Who Lost Himself in November and Terry, the Terry Fox biopic that ran in September.

And while some nets are cooling on MOWs, CTV has 10 more slated for its recently unveiled 2006/07 season, including Shades of Black: The Conrad Black Story from Screen Door, the road-rage piece Last Exit from Forum Films and Foundry Films, The Terrorist Next Door by Sarrazin Couture Entertainment and Forum, and In God’s Country, another from Shaftesbury with Rowan.

No word yet when any of these will air.

-With files from Sean Davidson