Olympic Skate-Off Sets Record for Viewing Winter Games

Figure skating’s Battle of the Carmens--the Saturday-night showdown between Katarina Witt of East Germany and Debi Thomas of the United States--attracted the largest TV audience in Winter Olympic history, ABC said Tuesday.

The three-hour broadcast was viewed by an average audience of 43 million, and the concluding half hour--when Witt and Thomas skated for the gold medal--drew 57% of the viewers watching TV at that time, according to figures released Tuesday by the A.C. Nielsen Co. That was the highest share level registered on a Saturday night by any network since “Roots” in 1977, ABC said.

Combined with only moderate interest in NBC’s “Noble House,” a Sunday-night audience split by the networks and steady viewership for the final week of Olympic coverage, ABC soared to another ratings triumph last week.

The network’s large margin of victory--it averaged a 20.5 rating during prime time compared with NBC’s 15.6 and CBS’ 13.5--virtually ensured a win for ABC in the February ratings sweeps that end today. It will be ABC’s first win during a sweeps period since its coverage of the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles in 1984.

The best NBC could do with “Noble House,” its heavily promoted eight-hour miniseries, was a 20th place finish for Wednesday’s concluding installment--well behind the 12th place for that night’s Olympic coverage. Parts 2 and 3 of “Noble House” finished 22nd and 28th, respectively, and were beaten by ABC by an even greater margin. (Part one was counted in the prior week’s ratings.)

CBS had greater miniseries success last week as its Sunday night premiere of “Bluegrass” edged by an NBC “Perry Mason” telefilm and ABC’s telecast of the Olympic closing ceremonies.

National Nielsen averages, which reversed the 15-city overnight estimates released Monday, found the three Sunday competitors bunched together, with “Bluegrass” on top with a 17.6 rating, “Perry Mason: The Case of the Avenging Ace” second with 17.4 and the Olympics third with 17.2.

CBS, bolstered by strong showings for “60 Minutes” and “Murder, She Wrote,” was able to pull out a win Sunday night. The network, which now trails ABC by half a rating point in the season-to-date totals, also showed growing strength on Fridays and wound up tying ABC during prime time.

Though final figures will not be tallied until Thursday, when the results of tonight’s viewing are in, ABC’s 17.5 rating average through Sunday seems to guarantee a win in the February sweeps. (Each rating point represents 886,000 households.)

NBC is second with a 16 average. CBS, with a 13.7 average durings sweeps, has some potential power with tonight’s Grammy Awards broadcast but has no chance to catch either of its rivals in this important ratings period.

The Grammys could be of more help to CBS in the more important season totals. With 23 weeks of the season gone and seven left, NBC has a 16.3 ratings average, ABC a 14.1 and CBS a 13.6.