The suddenly
hot Olympic sport: Hockey
U.S. men's upset victory ties a record on MSNBC
By Toni Fitzgerald
Feb 23, 2010
Over the weekend there was a lot of criticism of NBC Universal for putting the U.S.-Canada men's hockey game on MSNBC instead of showcasing it on NBC, and apparently for good reason.
There was a huge amount of interest in the game.
Sunday's upset U.S. victory drew 8.2 million total viewers, tying a viewership record for the network set the night of the 2008 presidential election.
Just imagine what it could have done on NBC, which is available in roughly 15 million more households than MSNBC.
The past few days, sports radio talkers have been criticizing NBC's decision to showcase ice dancing and skiing in primetime instead of hockey, choosing only to air highlights and some features on the U.S.'s surprising victory, which it compared to the 1980 "Miracle On Ice."
Going forward, all the U.S. men's games will be shown on NBC, beginning with Wednesday's quarterfinal game, which will air at 3 p.m.
The men's hockey team could yet become the face of this Olympics if it goes on to win its next three games and take the gold medal, and it could face off with Canada's heavily favored squad again in the final.
Meanwhile, the Olympics continued to chug along with strong ratings on NBC Sunday night even without the hockey game.
Sunday's Games coverage averaged 23.3 million total viewers, up 21 percent over the same night in Turin four years ago.
Once again the Games vanquished a program they were beaten by four years ago, in this case ABC's "Desperate Housewives." On Sunday the Olympics drew 24.7 million to "Housewives'" 10.9 million in the 9 p.m. hour.
Four years ago, "Housewives" outdrew the Games by 7 percent on the second Sunday of competition.
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