NBC Takes Ratings Lead With Games

NBC’s coverage of the first three nights of the Summer Olympics vanquished all competition in the preliminary ratings released Monday, but initial indications suggest that its prime-time coverage from South Korea is drawing less viewer interest nationwide than did ABC’s coverage of the Los Angeles Games in the summer of 1984.

The network’s telecast of the Opening Ceremonies on Friday captured 33% of the television audience from 8 to 11 p.m., according to A. C. Nielsen’s average of 16 major cities. ABC, with a lineup of comedy reruns and the news show “20/20,” pulled 18%, while CBS, with a Pee-wee Herman movie and a repeat Lily Tomlin special, attracted only 13% of the viewers.

In Los Angeles, taped coverage of the Opening Ceremonies did even better, drawing 46% of the audience. But that figure pales in comparison to 1984, when 79% of the local audience watched the Opening Ceremonies from the L.A. Coliseum.

The 1984 Opening Ceremonies also beat out the 1988 version in the 16-city overnights, although national Nielsen figures for the weekend won’t be released until today. The 1984 event, however, was telecast live on a Saturday afternoon in a U.S. city--and in July, before the start of the National Football League season.

Even with the time and location obstacles, NBC’s coverage of the first night of competition from South Korea Saturday crushed its rivals in the overnight ratings, approximately doubling the size of the audience watching ABC’s movie “California Girls” and CBS’ tribute to Jackie Gleason.

NBC prevailed again Sunday night as CBS, which usually dominates the Sunday ratings, could muster only a solid second place. Volleyball, basketball, swimming and boxing on NBC attracted 32% of the audience in the 16 cities while CBS earned 24% with “60 Minutes,” “Murder, She Wrote” and a repeat of a Valerie Bertinelli TV movie. ABC’s lineup of sitcoms trailed with 15%, while Fox’s regular prime-time lineup grabbed 10% of the 16-city audience.

While NBC has been KO-ing its adversaries, KNBC-TV Channel 4 has been cashing in on the network’s Olympic bonanza. The station’s live prime-time newscast from Seoul scored astronomical numbers for a local newscast on Saturday and Sunday. That’s because NBC is giving a half-hour to its affiliates for late-night newscasts at midnight Eastern time, which falls right in the middle of prime time on the West Coast.

Though plagued by technical difficulties Saturday, KNBC’s 9 p.m. newscast with John Beard, Linda Alvarez, Fritz Coleman and Fred Roggin from the Olympic park in Seoul earned a 17.3 rating and a 30 share, according to a station spokeswoman. Network shows on KCBS-TV Channel 2 and KABC-TV Channel 7 earned only a 16 and a 12 share respectively during that half hour.

On Sunday, KNBC’s 9 p.m. news captured a 22.2 rating and 34 share, easily beating ABC’s “Who’s the Boss?” the Bertinelli movie on CBS and Fox’s “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show.”