Although it televised most of the Summer Olympics live, the CBC said Wednesday that its ratings fell just 12 percent from the Atlanta games in 1996.

The fall-off was blamed primarily on the poor performances of Canadian athletes, not on the decision to carry the events live. Last week, NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol attacked the Canadian live coverage as "a joke and a stupid business decision." (NBC's ratings for the games were down 34 percent from 1996.)

Source: Studio Briefing