Cbs Draws Viewers For Olympics

Thu., Feb. 12, 1998

Associated Press

CBS brought home the ratings gold despite a sluggish start to the Winter Olympics, while the chilly reunion of Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding helped Fox push ABC into fourth place.

Heavy snow in Nagano has wreaked havoc on CBS’s Olympic coverage, which has averaged a 16.1 rating and 26 share through Monday night’s events.

That’s a sharp drop from Lillehammer in 1994, where the Harding-Kerrigan controversy pushed ratings to 24.0 with a 36 share through the first Monday.

But it was enough to enable CBS to win the first week of the February “sweeps” period. It had an 11.9 rating and 19 share for the week, Nielsen Media Research said Tuesday.

NBC, with “ER” and “Seinfeld” in their customary spots at the top of the ratings, was second with a 10.6 rating and 17 share. Fox’s 8.1 rating and 13 share was third, followed by ABC’s 7.5 rating and 12 share.

It was the second time this television season that Fox had beaten ABC. Fox’s two-hour “Breaking the Ice” special with the feuding figure skaters was the 23rd highest rated show of the week, despite competing with NBC’s powerful Thursday night lineup.

Prime time ratings as compiled by Nielsen Media Research for Feb. 2-8.

1. (1) “ER,” NBC, 21.9, 21.2 million homes

2. (2) “Seinfeld,” NBC, 21.1, 20.5 million homes

3. (X) “XVIII Winter Olympics-Sunday,” CBS, 20.2, 19.6 million homes

4. (3) “Veronica’s Closet,” NBC, 17.4, 16.9 million homes

5. (X) “XVIII Winter Olympics-Friday,” CBS, 17.1, 16.6 million homes

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