3 million in Austria viewed Baumgartners jump

3 million in Austria viewed Baumgartners jump
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Summary More than three million television in Austria tuned in live to watch Baumgartner jump on Sunday.

National broadcaster ORF recorded some 2.3 million television viewers during the nine minutes that 43-year-old Baumgartner plummeted to the earth from 39 kilometres (24 miles) above New Mexico, the highest freefall jump ever made.ServusTV, a private channel owned by Baumgartners sponsors Red Bull that offered almost 10 hours of live broadcast, added another 830,000 viewers in a country of eight million people.The two channels -- the only ones providing live broadcats -- made up 80 percent of viewership on Sunday.Almost half a million people also followed the event live on the internet platforms of Servus TV and ORF.Baumgartner broke three records with his daring jump: the highest freefall jump, the fastest freefall speed and the highest balloon flight by a human.But these records will still have to be verified by the Supreme National Air Sport Commission (ONF) in Vienna -- to establish them as Austrian records -- before they can be confirmed by the World Air Sports Federation (FAI).This could take up to two and a half months, said an ONF spokeswoman.Austria was quick to hail Baumgartners accomplishment.
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