NBC also plans to stick around for more national anthems of gold winners from other countries. With 77 prime-time hours from Atlanta, NBC averaged a 21.6 national Nielsen rating, best for any Olympics since 23.2 for Los Angeles in 1984. There's nobody home during the day to watch these major events unfold in the numbers that are necessary for all of us together to have a wildly successful Olympics. So all in all, the decision was made several years ago to present the Olympics completely on videotape. Part of the reason was we felt, after having told the whole world that we were going to do this, we didn't say it on the air.
Viewers can thank Ebersol for at least one small favor.
That's something to truly applaud in these days of increasing encroachment of promotion and commercials,' Ebersol said. Folks in such northern U.S. outposts as Seattle and Buffalo share the same international advantage. Estimates are that about two million Americans receive CBC's signal by antenna. But as many as two million homes with c-band dishes are capable of getting the CBC signal. Research indicates that about nine percent of Americans are watching TV between 1 and 6 a.m.