NBC’s Next Disaster: The 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver

The past few weeks of NBC’s bad publicity regarding the late night fiasco between Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien haven’t helped the network’s finances. Wasted money on two productions along with less than thrilling ratings has cost NBC millions upon millions of precious revenue. On top of that, NBC’s struggling prime-time ratings have hindered their ability to promote the Vancouver games, which begin Feb. 12.

NBC also knows going in that it will lose millions of dollars on the Olympics but insists that no corners will be cut that will be noticeable by viewers. “The squabbling over late night has really overshadowed anticipation for the Games,” said Shari Anne Brill, an analyst for the Madison Avenue firm Carat USA.