By Lynn Elber, Television Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) --Amid all the back-and-forth about the feasibility of holding the Tokyo Olympics during the pandemic, there are early indications of viewer interest in the summer games.
U.S. Olympic team trials in swimming and track and field that aired Sunday on NBC fell short of gold-medal ratings but won enough viewers to edge into the top 20, according to Nielsen figures released Tuesday.
NBC's coverage of the trials to date is down 26% compared to viewership for comparable Olympic trials in 2016 on the network. Basketball and hockey playoffs are one potential reason: It's the first time the NBA and NHL events have overlapped with the trials.
The NBA playoffs accounted for a lion's share of the most popular shows last week and helped make TNT the most-watched outlet on cable or broadcast.
The Olympics, delayed by a year because of COVID-19, will be held held July 23 to Aug. 8 despite widespread concerns from the Japanese public and medical community. The Olympics and the Paralympics combined will bring nearly 100,000 athletes and others into the country that has a low vaccination rate.
NBC was the most-watched network last week in prime-time, with an average of 3.2 million viewers. CBS had 2.7 million viewers, ABC had 2.67 million, Fox had 1.45 million, Univision had 1.3 million, Ion Television had 1 million and Telemundo had 950,000.
TNT handily led the cable networks with an average of 3.49 million viewers. Fox News Channel had 2.14 million, ESPN had 1.65 million, MSNBC had 1.19 million and HGTV had 1.15 million.
ABC's "World News Tonight" led the evening news ratings competition, averaging 7.7 million viewers last week. The "NBC Nightly News" had 6.3 million and the "CBS Evening News" had 4.7 million.
SMPTE elects board officers, regional governors
SMPTE®,the home of media professionals, technologists, and engineers, has revealed the board officers and regional governors who will serve terms beginning in January 2025.
Three new officers--Richard Welsh as SMPTE president, Eric Gsell as SMPTE executive VP, and Polly Hickling as SMPTE Education VP--have been elected for a two-year term from Jan. 1, 2025, to Dec. 31, 2026. One SMPTE officer, Lisa Hobbs, will be continuing her service as SMPTE secretary and treasurer for another two-year term. Additionally, Raymond Yeung will be stepping into the role of standards VP on Jan. 1, 2025.
“SMPTE’s membership has spoken,” said SMPTE interim executive director Sally-Ann D’Amato. “These officers have been tasked with an important responsibility, one each of them is prepared to tackle head-on. These next two years are looking bright for SMPTE!”
In addition to the officers, 10 regional governors were elected by the Society to serve two-year 2025-2026 terms.
These include the following regional governors, re-elected to continue their service:
Asia-Pacific Region Governor
Tony Ngai, Society of Motion Imaging Ltd.
EMEA - Central & South America Region Governor
Fernando Bittencourt, FB Consultant
United Kingdom Region Governor
Chris Johns, Sky UK.
USA - Central Region Governor
William T. Hayes, Consultant
USA - Eastern Region Governor
Dover Jeanne Mundt, Riedel Communications
USA - Western Region Governor
Jeffrey F. Way, Open Drives
Also elected were four newcomers to the SMPTE Board:
Canada Region Governor
Jonathan Jobin, Grass Valley
USA - Hollywood Region Governor
Allan Schollnick, Voxx... Read More