HIGH RATINGS FOR THE SOCHI OLYMPIC GAMES OVER OPENING WEEKEND..............

The American television ratings for the 22nd Winter Olympics in Sochi Russia; on NBC TV are solidly in first place over all other broadcasts, even though overall viewership is down from the Vancouver Olympics four years ago.  Sunday night's prime time viewership concluding the opening weekend of the competition underscores the dominant strength of the Olympics appeal versus all comers.  Opposite CBS' "60 Minutes", 'The Grammy Special Saluting 50 Years of the Beatles Coming to America', and a rerun of the freshman comedy series, "The Millers", The Sochi Olympics scored an audience of more than 26 million viewers, doubling the 13 million viewers for the Beatles Special. Whether any other counter programming can do better against the international athletic juggernaut is highly unlikely, virtually assuring NBC'S nightly ratings prevalence during the two and a half weeks of the Winter Olympics and victory in the February Sweeps Month Ratings competition that drive television advertising costs in prime time..............fr.tdp