The NBC said on Saturday that its tape-delayed coverage of the 2008 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony in Beijing has the best overnight television ratings for any Olympics held outside the United States.

The network claimed that the spectacular show got a 21.5 rating, meaning more than 1 in 5 U.S. television households watched all or part of the ceremony. The network was also claiming a 37 share, which means nearly two out of every five U.S. households that watched TV Friday night were tuned to the ceremonies.

NBC also said its Olympic internet sites have generated 70 million page views. That rating was topped only by the 1996 Atlanta games opening, which scored a 27 rating and 47 share.

Of the individual television markets equipped with overnight ratings devices, the city San Diego in Southern California ranked number one for Olympics viewing, with a 26.6 rating and 49 share, NBC reported.

An estimated 4 billion people around the world watched the show on various broadcasts.

All was not happy in TV land, however, as some television critics and viewers noted the broadcast was heavily chopped-up for commercials and was tape- delayed 15 hours by the time it was telecast on the West Coast.

Los Angeles Times reader Tom Freil was quoted in the paper as saying he wished NBC "would grow up" and let people see Olympics events as they occur, and then replay the highlights for the prime time audience.

The peacock network also says its Olympic internet sites have generated 70 million page views.

NBC reportedly paid 894 million dollars for the rights to broadcast this year's Olympics, and is spending more than 100 million dollars to transmit the games and pageantry. The network has already sold more than one billion dollars worth of advertising on NBC, Telemundo and other NBC Universal networks.

(Xinhua News Agency August 10, 2008)