Collegian

Rosey Fletcher, of the USA, makes her way down the course during her bronze-medal performance in the Ladies Parallel giant Slalom snowboarding competition Thursday, Feb. 23 in Bardinecchia, Italy during the 2006 Winter Olympic Games (Sherri LaRose/St. Pau [Click to enlarge]

The ratings for this year's Olympics are in, and they are not looking good.  After paying out $613 million for broadcast rights-a record for any Olympic Games-NBC is finding that not as many people tune in as in years past.  Neilsen ratings report that the 2006 games' Opening Ceremony was viewed in 12.8 percent of households in the United States, over 56 million viewers.  This was "more than the 'Friends' finale last May (51 million) but less than the 89 million who watched this year's Super Bowl," according to the New York Post.

But in comparison, these ratings seem rather humdrum, when you consider that NBC drew twice as many viewers for the Opening Ceremony in 2002 according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.      

This drop, while dramatic, was also predictable, since the '02 games were held in Salt Lake City and would naturally draw more American viewers. 

But even this year's games, which are held in Turino, Italy and broadcast on a 6-hour tape delay, have shown an average ratings drop of 20 percent from the '98 winter games in Nagano, Japan.

This leaves NBC more desperate for success than some of the athletes.  After fronting the record price for broadcasting rights, NBC is hoping to sell $900 million in commercials. 

However, if enough people don't tune in, the network may actually have to pay the advertisers back some of the money in free commercials.

This year's team USA has been called the "best ever assembled"-in last-ditch NBC television spots.  But the advertising so far is to no avail, as the ratings continue to soar downhill with more success than skier Bode Miller.

Miller, favored to win five medals in his five events, went 0-for-3 in his first three events this year, finishing with two disqualifications and one crash. 

Couple that with the sudden withdraw of figure-skater Michelle Kwan, the injury to female skier Lindsey Kildow on the second day of the games, and the lackluster 1-2 start to the men's hockey team, and what you get is a generally uninterested American crowd.

At least when the smoke clears from this year's games, NBC can take comfort in one small victory:  Nielsen has shown a slight increasing in curling ratings.

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