• February 13, 2006

NBC's coverage of the opening ceremonies of the Torino Winter Olympics averaged a 12.8 household rating Friday night, a decline of 50 percent from the 25.5 rating it averaged during the opening ceremonies of the Salt Lake City games in 2002, the highest-rated Olympic opening ever. However, that was still well within the 12.0 to 14.0 household ratings NBC Sports guaranteed Olympic advertisers this year, indicating NBC should have no problem if it maintains those levels for the duration of its coverage. Through Saturday, more than 88 million people had watched the Torino Games across NBC Universal broadcast and cable networks. NBC's coverage Saturday night of the first night of competition of the Torino Games drew a 13.5 household rating and was the highest rated first Saturday night for any non-domestic Olympics, winter or summer, since the Lillehammer Games in 1994 scored a 20.9 rating. -- Joe Mandese