Stiff network competition takes glow off the Games

NBC was last week’s most-watched network thanks to the Winter Olympics, but Fox tied it for first place among viewers ages 18 to 34, according to Nielsen Media Research figures.

With its all-Olympics prime-time lineup, NBC averaged 19.41 million viewers between Feb. 13 and Sunday, its largest total for a week since Aug. 23-30, 2004, when the network showed the Summer Olympics from Athens.

But prime-time viewership for the Olympics through Sunday was down 37% compared with the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, which also aired on NBC. Olympics in the United States traditionally draw more viewers than those outside the country, in part because of the increased interest and smaller time difference.

ABC was the second most-watched network last week with 11.43 million viewers, followed by Fox with 10.39 million, CBS with 10.15 million, the WB with 3.67 million and UPN with 2.57 million.

Four entertainment programs topped NBC’s most-watched Winter Olympics telecast for the week, with Fox’s Wednesday “American Idol” broadcast the week’s most-watched program with 28.78 million viewers.

The Olympics also were beaten by ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars,” Fox’s “House” and a rerun of CBS’ “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.”

In a comparable period during the 2002 Winter Olympics, NBC’s seven Olympics telecasts swept the week’s top seven positions.

Wednesday’s “American Idol” enabled “Bones,” which followed it, to be the week’s most-watched new series with 11.24 million viewers, putting it 26th for the week.

Cable television’s most-watched program was TNT’s coverage of Sunday’s NBA All-Star Game, which drew 7.07 million viewers -- the least in the four years since the game moved to cable in 2003 and a 13% drop from last year.

*

Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Feb. 13-19) as compiled by Nielsen Media Research. They are based on the average number of people who watched a program from start to finish. Nielsen estimates there are 277.93 million potential viewers in the U.S. ages 2 and older. Viewership is listed in millions.

*--* Program Network Viewers 1 American Idol (Wed.) FOX 28.78 2 American Idol (Tue.) FOX 26.96 3 Grey’s Anatomy (Sun.) ABC 24.36 4 Desperate Housewives ABC 23.41 5 Winter Olympics (Mon.) NBC 21.07

6 Winter Olympics (Sat.) NBC 19.67 7 Winter Olympics (Thu.) NBC 19.38 8 Dancing With the Stars ABC 19.26 9 Winter Olympics (Sun.) NBC 19.24 10 House FOX 19.20

11 Winter Olympics (Fri.) NBC 18.93 12 CSI CBS 18.83 13 Winter Olympics (Tue.) NBC 18.40 14 Lost ABC 18.20 15 Winter Olympics (Wed.) NBC 17.87

16 Survivor: Panama, Exile Island CBS 16.98 17 Dancing With the Stars Results ABC 15.75 18 Without a Trace CBS 14.65 19 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ABC 14.57 20 Two and a Half Men CBS 13.60

21 CSI: Miami CBS 13.14 22 24 FOX 12.82 23 60 Minutes CBS 12.51 24 CSI: NY CBS 12.09 25 Cold Case CBS 11.47

26 Bones FOX 11.24 27 Courting Alex CBS 11.11 28 Boston Legal ABC 10.40 29 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 10.26 30 Numb3rs CBS 9.85

31 Grey’s Anatomy (Thu.) ABC 9.40 32 Bachelor: Paris ABC 9.21 33 King of Queens CBS 9.17 34 Invasion ABC 9.01 35 Close to Home CBS 8.84

36 Dr. Phil: Love Smart CBS 8.83 37 Wife Swap ABC 8.81 38 Criminal Minds CBS 8.59 39 NCIS CBS 8.46 40 The Price Is Right CBS 8.36

41 In Justice ABC 8.33 42 Ghost Whisperer CBS 8.15 43 How I Met Your Mother CBS 8.10 44 20/20 ABC 7.79 45 Skating With Celebrities FOX 7.66

46 “Cast Away” ABC 7.38 47 “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines” CBS 7.26 48 48 Hours Mystery CBS 7.12 49 Crimetime Saturday (8 p.m.) CBS 7.00 50 Crimetime Saturday (9 p.m.) CBS 6.99

51 According to Jim ABC 6.62 52 Primetime ABC 6.58 53 America’s Most Wanted FOX 6.53 54 The Simpsons FOX 6.48 Yes, Dear CBS 6.48

56 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 6.41 57 “Charlie Brown Valentine” ABC 6.40 58 Smallville WB 6.24 Family Guy FOX 6.24 60 George Lopez (Tue.) ABC 6.16

George Lopez (Wed.) ABC 6.16 62 Still Standing CBS 6.13 63 7th Heaven WB 5.89 64 Freddie ABC 5.82 65 Bailando por un Sueno UNI 5.77

66 Cops (8 p.m.) FOX 5.67 67 American Dad FOX 5.53 68 Trading Spouses FOX 5.35 69 Gilmore Girls WB 5.34 70 War at Home FOX 5.21

71 Piel de Otono (Wed.) UNI 5.17 Contra Viento y Marea (Wed.) UNI 5.17 73 “Legally Blonde” FOX 5.06 74 Contra Viento y Marea (Thu.) UNI 5.02 75 Piel de Otono (Fri.) UNI 4.98

76 Piel de Otono (Thu.) UNI 4.80 77 WWE Smackdown! UPN 4.79 78 Alborada (Thu.) UNI 4.77 79 Alborada (Wed.) UNI 4.72 80 Contra Viento y Marea (Tue.) UNI 4.64

81 Alborada (Fri.) UNI 4.61 Rodney ABC 4.61 83 Contra Viento y Marea (Mon.) UNI 4.60 84 Piel de Otono (Mon.) UNI 4.52 85 Everybody Hates Chris UPN 4.50

86 Alborada (Tue.) UNI 4.45 87 Piel de Otono (Tue.) UNI 4.43 88 Contra Viento y Marea (Fri.) UNI 4.41 89 King of the Hill FOX 4.30 90 Alborada (Mon.) UNI 4.19

91 Beauty and the Geek (Thu.) WB 4.18 92 Supernatural WB 3.96 93 Malcolm in the Middle FOX 3.95 94 Charmed WB 3.89 95 Trading Spouses FOX 3.87

96 Girlfriends UPN 3.40 97 Reba (Fri.) WB 3.30 98 Half and Half UPN 3.09 99 Reba (Sun., 7:30 p.m.) WB 3.03 100 Sabado Gigante UNI 3.02

101 All of Us UPN 2.91 Hora Pico UNI 2.91 103 Aqui y Ahora UNI 2.89 104 One Tree Hill WB 2.85 105 Don Francisco Presenta UNI 2.84

Camino P. Lo Nuestro UNI 2.84 107 Beauty and the Geek (Wed.) WB 2.77 108 Vecinos UNI 2.66 109 Reba (Sun., 7 p.m.) WB 2.58 110 Related WB 2.56

111 Eve UPN 2.50 112 Love Inc. UPN 2.48 113 One on One UPN 2.47 114 Cristina UNI 2.36 115 Charmed WB 2.27

116 Twins WB 2.26 117 What I Like About You WB 2.18 118 Cuts UPN 2.06 119 Living With Fran WB 2.01 120 Cuerpo del Deseo (Mon.) TEL 1.94

121 Casos Familia UNI 1.93 122 Cuerpo del Deseo (Thu.) TEL 1.92 123 Rumbo Al Mundial TEL 1.87 Cuerpo del Deseo (Tue.) TEL 1.87 125 Cuerpo del Deseo (Fri.) TEL 1.72

126 Cuerpo del Deseo (Wed.) TEL 1.64 127 Tormenta (Mon.) TEL 1.47 128 Tormenta (Wed.) TEL 1.30 129 Tormenta (Tue.) TEL 1.29 130 South Beach UPN 1.25

131 Corazon Partido (Thu.) TEL 1.21 132 Tormenta (Thu.) TEL 1.20 133 Decisiones (Tue.) TEL 1.19 Veronica Mars UPN 1.19 135 Rumbo Pregame TEL 1.18

136 Tormenta (Fri.) TEL 1.16 137 Decisiones (Fri.) TEL 1.15 138 Corazon Partido (Mon.) TEL 1.13 139 Decisiones (Wed.) TEL 1.10 Get This Party Started (8 p.m.) UPN 1.10

141 Decisiones (Thu.) TEL 1.06 142 Decisiones (Mon.) TEL 1.01 143 Decisiones Extra (Mon.) TEL 0.97 144 Corazon Partido (Tue.) TEL 0.96 145 Decisiones Extra (Thu.) TEL 0.94

146 Decisiones Extra (Tue.) TEL 0.93 147 Corazon Partido (Fri.) TEL 0.88 148 Cinemundo Premier TEL 0.87 Get This Party Started (9 p.m.) UPN 0.87 150 Sin Fronteras TEL 0.80

151 Cinemundo del Sabado TEL 0.79 152 Decisiones Extra (Fri.) TEL 0.74 153 Sabia Usted TEL 0.42 154 “Gloria Trevi Concert” TEL 0.40

*--*

Network averages

Here is the number of viewers (in millions) that each network averaged per hour of prime time, for last week and for the season.

*--* Network Last week Season to date NBC 19.41 9.72

ABC 11.43 11.57

FOX 10.39 9.00

CBS 10.15 12.82

UNI 4.10 4.02

WB 3.66 3.31

UPN 2.57 3.26

TEL 1.14 1.16

*--*