NBC Rolls a Seven With Olympics

By LEE MARGULIES

July 31, 1996 12 AM PT

As expected, NBC dominated the ratings last week with its coverage of the Summer Olympic Games. The top seven spots in the figures released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research went to NBC’s seven nights of Atlanta telecasts.

ABC’s “Home Improvement” finished at No. 8, but with fewer than half the viewers of any night of Olympics programming.

NBC’s dominance extended beyond prime time. The “NBC Nightly News” was the nation’s most-watched newscast, ending a run of more than two years at No. 1 by ABC’s “World News Tonight.” The last time ABC had finished second in the news ratings was in February 1994--when, not coincidentally, CBS was broadcasting the Winter Olympics.

A.C. Nielsen Ratings

Here are the ratings for national prime-time television last week (July 22-28) as compiled by Nielsen Media Research. Each rating point is said by Nielsen to represent 959,000 homes, or 1% of the 95.9 million U.S. households that have TV.

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Program Network Rating 1.Summer Olympics (Tue.) NBC 27.2 2.Summer Olympics (Thur.) NBC 26.8 3.Summer Olympics (Sun.) NBC 23.4 4.Summer Olympics (Mon.) NBC 22.9 5.Summer Olympics (Wed.) NBC 22.4 6.Summer Olympics (Sat.) NBC 19.4 7.Summer Olympics (Fri.) NBC 17.9 8.Home Improvement ABC 9.1 9.60 Minutes CBS 9.0 10.”Tommyknockers” Pt. 2 ABC 8.2 Coach ABC 8.2

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Southland Ratings

Here are A. C. Nielsen’s Top 10 prime-time programs in the Los Angeles area during the same week. Each rating point equals 50,064 households.

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Program Station Rating 1.Channel 4 News at 9 (Wed.) KNBC 25.8 2.News (9 p.m.) (M, T, Th, F, Sa) KNBC 24.0 3.Channel 4 News at 9 (Sun.) KNBC 23.6 4.Olympics and News (Mon.) KNBC 21.9 5.Olympics (Wed., Sun.) KNBC 17.2 6.News--Atlanta Bombing KNBC 15.7 7. NYPD Blue KABC 9.7 8.Cybill KCBS 8.9 60 Minutes KCBS 8.9 10.”Tommyknockers” Pt. 2 KABC 8.3

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Weekly Averages

NBC: 23.4

CBS: 6.2

ABC: 5.7

FOX: 3.7

WB: 2.4

UPN: 1.7

Season to Date

NBC: 11.6

ABC: 9.8

CBS: 9.1