High Dive

For NBC, the 1988 Summer Olympics provided something less than the thrill of victory. Critics complained that the coverage was uninspired, viewers groused about commercial overload, and ratings were a major disappointment. The prime- time audience averaged 16.9% of total households (compared with 23.2% for the 1984 Los Angeles Games), falling far short of projections and virtually wiping out the network's expected profits. So it came as a surprise last week when NBC took an Olympic high dive once again, spending a record $401 million for the TV rights to the 1992 Summer Games in Barcelona.

The most disappointed loser in the fierce three-way bidding war: CBS, which was considered the favorite after spending $243 million for the rights to the 1992 Winter Games in Albertville, France. As for ABC, it has now been shut out of three straight Olympics. NBC's winning bid exceeded most predictions and far surpassed the $300 million it paid for the Summer Games this year.

With the audience for big network events dwindling, such lavish spending might seem foolhardy. But NBC executives were upbeat. The Games will begin in late July, they point out, when TV competition should be relatively light. (Because of the time difference, however, most events will be shown on tape rather than live.) What's more, NBC will recoup part of its investment by selling the rights for some events to cable. "We didn't go into this to lose money," said NBC president Robert Wright. Increasingly, in the high-stakes world of network TV, it just seems to work out that way.