Universal Cable Is Seeing Gold

NBC Universal Cable networks carrying Olympic Games coverage are thus far returning viewership performances worthy of gold medals, NBC officials said.

Through Aug. 18, USA Network, CNBC, Bravo and MSNBC were averaging a combined 42 million unduplicated viewers since each began televising Olympic coverage from Athens, Greece, Aug. 14, according to Nielsen Media Research figures released by NBC Sports.

NBC officials said the network didn’t have average household ratings for each channel’s Olympics coverage, which have mostly aired during daytime and in late-night, but executives were happy so far.

After struggling early, NBC’s ratings for its first six days of Olympics coverage were up 8% to a 15.7 compared with 2000 Olympics coverage from Sydney, Australia, after six days.