First Two Days of Olympic Coverage Garners 88 Million US Viewers  2/13/06

MORE THAN 88 MILLION VIEWERS HAVE WATCHED THE TWO DAYS OF THE TORINO WINTER OLYMPICS ON NBC UNIVERSAL

NBC's Torino Olympics Coverage Produces Highest Rated First Saturday Night of Any Non-Domestic Olympics Since 1994

Saturday Night's Primetime Coverage of the Winter Games is the Highest Rated Show on NBC Since 2004

TORINO, Italy - Feb. 12, 2006 - Through Saturday, more than 88 million people have watched the Torino Winter Olympics on the networks of NBC Universal. NBC's Saturday night broadcast was seen by 47 million total viewers. NBC's coverage of the first night of competition of the Torino Winter Games drew a 13.5 household rating and 23 share, and is the highest rated first Saturday night for any non-domestic Olympics, Winter or Summer, since the tabloid Lillehammer Games in 1994 (20.9), surpassing Athens in 2004 (11.8) and Sydney in 2000 (13.1). The 13.5/23 is up 10 percent from CBS's rating for the first night of competition in Nagano in 1998, the last non-domestic Winter Games (12.3/22).

The 13.5/23 (8:30-11:15 p.m. ET/PT) is the highest rating for any NBC show since the last Olympics, the Athens Games in Aug. 2004 (13.8, 8/26/04) and the highest rating for a Saturday night on NBC since the Salt Lake Games (15.5, 2/23/02). The first two days of the Torino Olympics, have given NBC its two highest-rated back-to-back nights since the last Olympics, the Athens Games in 2004. Last night's 13.5 out-rates every night of the 2005 World Series.

"The Olympics remain one of the biggest events on television," said Randy Falco, President and COO, NBC Universal Television Group. "Despite this being the most competitive quarter I've seen in my 30 years in the television business, the Olympics continue to perform as they have throughout the past decade, compared to the current network television landscape."

Based on the dramatic changes in the media environment from Olympics to Olympics, the real measure of its success is to compare the Olympic rating to the underlying primetime average. NBC's primetime rating last night (13.6, 8:30-11 p.m. ET/PT) tripled the underlying 4-network primetime average rating for a Saturday night (+216 percent, 4.3) and also more than tripled NBC's usual Saturday night delivery this season (+240 percent, 4.0).

An average of 23.6 million viewers tuned in to watch NBC's primetime coverage last night (8:30-11 p.m. ET/PT), including Chad Hedrick's gold medal speedskating victory in the 5000m and the pairs figure skating short program, twice as many average viewers as the other networks combined (20.4M), and 293 percent higher than NBC's primetime average this season (6M). The 23.6 million viewers tuning in to NBC's broadcast last night is 19 percent higher than the 19.8 million that tuned in to CBS's first night of competition in Nagano in 1998.

Other notes:

? NBC's 6.8 Adults 18-49 rating for primetime coverage of the Winter Games last night was 323 percent higher than CBS (1.6) and 133 percent above both ABC and Fox (2.9) and was 278 percent higher than NBC's normal Saturday night rating this season (1.8).

? Saturday's afternoon coverage of the Torino Winter Games (3-6 p.m. ET/PT) drew a 6.8 HH rating, up 19 percent from the first Saturday afternoon in Nagano, the last non-domestic Winter Games (5.7/14).

? The rating for NBC's primetime coverage last night peaked with a 14.2 between 9-9:30 p.m. ET as the pairs figure skating short program began and Canadian Jennifer Heil raced to the gold in the women's moguls.

Following are the ranked metered markets for last night's (Saturday's) broadcast:

MKT RTG SHR

1. PORTLAND 21.1 38

2. SALT LAKE CITY 20.8 38

3. DENVER 20.6 35

4. CLEVELAND 19.3 32

5. MINNEAPOLIS 19 35

5. SACRAMENTO 19 33

5. SAN DIEGO 19 32

8. MILWAUKEE 18.9 31

9. WEST PALM BEACH18.8 30

10. JACKSONVILLE 18.1 27

11. SEATTLE 17.8 33

12. TAMPA 17.6 26

13. ST. LOUIS 17.4 28

14. PROVIDENCE 17.3 28

15. CINCINNATI 17.1 29

16. PHOENIX 17 29

17. BALTIMORE 16.9 25

18. FT.MYERS 16.7 26

19. HARTFORD 16.5 25

19. NASHVILLE 16.5 24

21. NORFOLK 16.1 24

22. OKLAHOMA CITY 15.7 25

23. PITTSBURGH 15.6 24

24. COLUMBUS 15.5 26

25. LAS VEGAS 15.4 25

26. NEW YORK 15.2 23

27. INDIANAPOLIS 15.1 25

MKT RTG SHR

28. PHILADELPHIA 15 22

28. KANSAS CITY 15 23

30. ORLANDO 14.8 23

30. RICHMOND 14.8 22

32. BOSTON 14.5 25

33. WASHINGTON 14.1 22

34. BUFFALO 14 23

35. DALLAS 13.8 24

36. CHICAGO 13.6 24

37. AUSTIN 13.3 23

38. SAN FRANCISCO 12.9 24

38. CHARLOTTE 12.9 20

38. GREENSBORO 12.9 20

41. ALBUQUERQUE 12.8 20

42. LOUISVILLE 12.6 20

43. DAYTON 12.5 21

44. ATLANTA 12.3 19

45. GREENVILLE 12.2 19

46. KNOXVILLE 12.1 18

47. TULSA 11.9 18

48. LOS ANGELES 11.4 21

49. DETROIT 11.3 19

50. MIAMI 10.8 18

51. RALEIGH-DURHAM 10.5 17

52. SAN ANTONIO 10.4 16

53. BIRMINGHAM 10.3 15

54. HOUSTON 9.7 15

54. MEMPHIS 9.7 14

The networks of NBC Universal, NBC, USA, MSNBC, CNBC, NBC HD and Universal HD will provide 418 total hours of coverage - including the most live coverage - across the most platforms of any Winter Olympics in history of the XX Olympic Winter Games from Torino, Italy, Feb. 10-26.

Source: NBC Press Release