Olympic bits: Al Michaels returns in studio, not rink

Bob Costas will be the prime time host for his eighth Olympics. The big change in the hosting lineup has Al Michaels replacing Jim Lampley in the afternoon.

Michaels, who last worked an Olympics in Calgary in 1988, won’t call hockey games, even if the United States meets Russia. That job belongs to Doc Emrick.

The 1980 hockey assignment that turned Michaels into a major star came about as the result of “serendipity,’’ he said.

“I was the only announcer on the ABC Sports staff that included Keith [Jackson], Howard Cosell, Jim McKay, Frank Gifford, Chris Schenkel and several others that had ever announced a hockey game,’’ he said. “My career total at that point was one.’’

NBC faces 'Idol' threat

NBC took some ratings hits during the Turin Games in 2006 from rival networks unafraid to challenge the Olympics with strong counterprogramming.

That figures to be the case again this time, notably as Fox throws its "American Idol'' juggernaut into the Peacock's path.

NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol said the first Tuesday on which the Olympic takes on "Idol" will feature live men's figure skating.

"Then the following Tuesday night, we have the beginning of the women's skating competition, again live,'' he said. "So will we beat them? I don't know. I think they are the No. 1 show in television.''

Ebersol said the Grammys moved from February to January and the Oscars from February to March to avoid competing against the Olympics.

Will Olympics rate on TV?

No night of the Olympics will come close to the record-breaking audience of 106.5 million that watched Super Bowl XLIV, of course.

But over the course of 17 nights, the Games will attract impressive numbers of eyeballs looking for a mid-winter diversion.

NBC will benefit from being in the Western Hemisphere but not as much as it would benefit from being on U.S. soil.

The best guess for an average prime time rating is less than the 19.2 percent of homes for the 2002 Salt Lake City Games but probably better than the 12.1 for Turin in '06.

Go figure: U.S. team is strong

NBC took a potential ratings hit when photogenic 2006 figure skating silver medalist Sasha Cohen did not make it out of the nationals.

The twist is that even with an unpromising team for women's figure skating - the gold standard of Olympic ratings draws - NBC should benefit from one of the strongest American contingents overall for a Winter Games.

"I remember the 1964 and 1968 Winter Olympics when the U.S. team won one gold medal in each,'' NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol said. "This U.S. team should have potential medal winners almost every single day.''

But the network promises not to ignore good stories involving athletes from other lands. NBC says almost half the features it has produced are about non-U.S. competitors.

Not enough hours in the day

835 - The hours of planned coverage on NBC’s TV outlets.

416 - The amount it provided from Turin  four years ago.

124 - Number of hours CBS showed from Nagano in 1998.

15 - The number of hours CBS’ showed from Squaw Valley in 1960.

The coverage is spread over five NBC Universal-owned channels and NBCOlympics.com — where the amount of live events online will be way down from the 2,200 hours in Beijing and mostly offer curling and hockey.

Nor enough money in the bank

$820 million - The amount NBC will pay for the privilege of covering the Vancouver Games and is projecting a loss of about $250 million for doing so.

$50,000 - Amount CBS paid for Squaw Valley in rights fees.