‘Tonight’ Skates By ‘Late Show’

CBS’ opening coverage of the Winter Olympics did nothing to help the fortunes of the network’s late night schmoozer, David Letterman.

In fact, NBC’s late-night shows skated by Letterman’s Olympics-powered “Late Show” in the Nielsen competition, at least in the overnight Nielsen survey of 38 markets, about 55 percent of the country.

According to the preliminary ratings, on Friday, when CBS aired the Winter Games’ opening ceremonies from Nagano, NBC’s top-rated “Tonight” beat CBS’ “Late Show” by two-tenths of a rating point.

Jay Leno’s “Tonight” earned a 5.8 rating, 14 share in the overnight markets, while Letterman’s “Late Show” had a 5.6 rating/14 share in the same time slot, which for Letterman followed post-Olympics late newscasts.

Back in 1994, on the opening night of the Lillehammer games, “Late Show” swamped “Tonight” with an 8.8/25 to Leno’s 4.0/12. Of course, in 1994, “Late Show” generally swamped “Tonight” on a nightly basis.

‘Seinfeld’ syndication value up

“Seinfeld” may be on its way out, but its value is on its way up.

TV industry insiders say that even before the top-rated comedy airs its final original “yada, yada, yada” on NBC this May, the syndication rights for the show are likely to skyrocket for stations wanting to broadcast “Seinfeld” reruns for years to come.

Columbia TriStar Television Distribution, which distributes the reruns, already has started discussions with stations in the top markets about a new syndication deal for “Seinfeld.” And executives are speculating that the license fees for the comedy could double from what stations paid for the current syndication deal, expected to expire in the spring of 2001.

Sources said that in the first syndication release, “Seinfeld” made more than $3 million per episode in license fees, and that a new deal could take the sitcom past the $6 million-per-episode threshold.