NBC's lower-than-expected ratings for the Sydney Games
are the focus of a front-page report in the CHARLOTTE
OBSERVER under the header, "Viewers Are Not Sharing
Athlete's Olympic Triumphs." Whitmire & Goldsborough: "The
Olympic motto is 'swifter, higher, stronger,' but for NBC,
the story of the Sydney Games so far has been slower, lower,
weaker." Bob Blue, Manager of a Charlotte-area sports bar:
"I haven't had anybody request to see the Olympics. Zero."
But Schulman/Advansweres President Paul Schulman said, "NBC
knows what they're doing. They're getting the most out of
what they have. It's just they don't have as much as they
had hoped for" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 9/21). Campbell-Mithun
Esty Senior VP John Rash: "NBC still has a week and a half
to rally viewers with events in which Americans
traditionally dominate, track and field in particular" (ST.
PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 9/21). NEWSDAY's Steve Zipay writes the
ratings trend is "raising the troubling prospect for NBC
that the Summer Games from Sydney will end as one of the
lowest-rated Olympics ever." Swimming and gymnastics "have
not produced the lofty figures of the past, and NBC is
banking on other events, such as track and field, starting
tomorrow, to boost Sydney's numbers." One cable TV sports
exec, asked if NBC would change its broadcast formula and
show some afternoon events in Sydney live in the U.S., said,
"Never. That would admit defeat. They'll just tough it
out" (NEWSDAY, 9/21). MSNBC Olympic host Jim Lampley: "NBC
should make this [shortfall] up in Salt Lake City. People
will be surprised at how high the ratings will be."
Mediacom's Jon Mandel: "For the first time, other networks
are programming against the Olympics. ... Fox ran a teen
music special and took the youth audience away" (USA TODAY,
9/21). In UT, Scott Pierce: "Given the relative weakness of
NBC's numbers, you've got to wonder if competing networks
aren't kicking themselves for their decision to concede
September to the Olympics and compete with lame lineups of
reruns. And you've got to wonder if NBC's ratings would be
even worse if there was real competition out there in TV
land" (DESERET NEWS, 9/20). TN Media's Stacy Lynn Koerner:
"There wasn't a lot of promotion and hype before the
Olympics this time. I certainly wondered why I didn't see
and hear more about (the Games)" (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 9/21).
CRITICS CORNER: USA TODAY's Christine Brennan: "Can you
believe how bad these television ratings are? ... NBC's
decision to show every last second of the Games on tape is
mind-boggling. ... The sad thing about this is that the
Sydney Olympic Games just might be the most electric Games
of all." USA TODAY's Rudy Martzke adds that last night's
show, "buoyed by strong U.S. performances," was NBC's "best
of these Sydney Olympics" (USA TODAY, 9/21). In Ottawa, Rob
Brodie: "Give NBC credit for this: The jingoism has been
toned down" (OTTAWA SUN, 9/21). In Nashville, David Climer:
"This Olympic movement is decidedly downward in terms of
interest." During coverage of women's gymnastics, NBC "was
so desperate it resorted to a Shannon Miller feature -- and
she didn't even make the team" (Nashville TENNESSEAN, 9/21).
In Seattle, Kim McFadden compares NBC's Olympic coverage to
the CBC's. McFadden writes the CBC "was better than NBC in
some, though not many, areas." McFadden: "It's mighty hard
to beat NBC's virtually non-stop advertising of its Web site
and sister cable channels" (SEATTLE TIMES, 9/21).
THE ANALYSTS: In UT, Martin Renzhofer writes in
swimming, "the unpretentious Dan Hicks is informative,
sometimes carefree and funny." But in gymnastics, Al
Trautwig's "excessively dramatic style is as dark and
oppressive as Hicks is effervescent" (S.L. TRIBUNE, 9/21).
NBC'S NOT THE ONLY ONE: In Houston, David Barron
reports that the "furor" over coverage by Australian carrier
the Seven Network "reached a boiling point" Thursday when
network officials "apologized publicly" for not covering
live the beginning of "local heroine" Susie O'Neill's Gold
medal swim in the 200-meter freestyle. Seven Network execs
cited "fatigue and human error." Seven was showing a Qantas
commercial when the race began (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 9/21).
