• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, August 11, 2004

The summertime, once deemed an off-season for the national TV marketplace, has suddenly become as hotly contested as any period during the so-called regular season. In media hype worthy of the networks' Sweeps ratings spins, the two lead prime-time networks--CBS and NBC--are battling for bragging rights over the summer of '04.

In a bid to take some of the Nielsen ratings luster off of NBC's upcoming coverage of the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, CBS Wednesday declared that the summer season "officially" ends Aug. 12, the day before NBC begins its Olympics coverage.

With a tongue planted firmly in cheek, CBS even issued a press statement calling its decision "eminently reasonable"--given the stunt-like impact of Olympics programming on TV audience shares. "We are sure that this unilateral but fair decision on our part will be greeted with as much respect and serious discussion as was another network's contention earlier this year that the new television season would begin immediately after the 2004 Olympics," said the CBS statement, in a not- so-veiled reference to NBC.

CBS' claim of prime-time summertime supremacy is based on its summer-through-Aug. 9 ratings dominance in households and some key demographics, including adults ages 25-54, although NBC shot back noting that the peacock network still dominates among adults ages 18-49 (see table below).

"We certainly don't think anybody who knows anything about anything will be fooled by those kinds of shenanigans, even if they are being carried out on an Olympic scale," retorted CBS CEO Leslie Moonves.

The networks' summer ratings dueling follows a pitch earlier this week by the Syndicated Network Television Association, which showed syndicated TV shows to be ranked as seven of the top 25 shows of the summer of '04.

NATIONAL NIELSEN RATINGS SUMMER 2004*

      ------Viewers------   ---Adults 18-49---
---Adults 25-54---  
CBS   8.43 million    +4%        2.4    +4%           3.0   +3%  
NBC   6.81 million   -13%        2.5   -14%           2.8  -18%  
ABC   5.76 million    -5%        2.2
NC            2.4   -4%  
Fox   4.95 million   -16%        2.2   -12%           2.1  -13%  

Source: CBS analysis of data from Nielsen Media Research. *May 31-Aug. 9, 2004 vs May 26-Aug. 11, 2003.