The London Summer Olympics have become the most-watched event in TV history. The 17 days of the games drew 219.4 million viewers, 4.4 million more than the Bejing Olympics in 2008 and 10 million more than the 1996 Atlanta games.

An average of 31.1 million viewers watched each night in primetime.

Local newscasts on NBC affiliates saw major increases. In the 56 metered markets, compared to the July 2012 sweeps period, Morning newscasts (5-7am) were up +53%; Evening newscasts (5-7:30pm) were up +59% and late newscasts were up +84%.

Here’s how the top 56 metered markets finished:

1. Salt Lake City 25.0/45 (KSL)
2. Kansas City 22.5/37 (KSHB)
3. Milwaukee 22.3/37 (WTMJ)
4. Denver 22.1/42 (KUSA)
5. Columbus, OH 21.9/36 (WCMH)
6. Norfolk 21.2/33 (WAVY)
7. Indianapolis 20.9/36 (WTHR)
T8. San Diego 20.8/37 (KNSD)
T8. West Palm Beach 20.8/34 (WPTV)
10. Richmond 20.6/33 (WWBT)

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WTLV sports director Dan Hicken, who has been covering sports for the Jacksonville NBC-affiliate since the 80s, delivered an angry on-air rant against Bob Costas and NBC during a recent newscast after the network’s Olympic coverage ran long and bumped the start of East Coast affiliates’ late newscasts well past midnight (video above).

“Bob, when it’s 12 o’clock, you say Goodnight,” Hicken yelled at the beginning of his sports update, which began at 12:31 a.m.  “You don’t care because you’re sleeping right now.”

NBC’s decision to air marquee Olympic events on tape delay has put the network’s primetime coverage at odds with the instant information culture of the internet, forcing viewers to shield their eyes as they scroll through news sites to avoid potential spoilers.

KHQ, the NBC-affiliate in Spokane, had to deal with viewer backlash this week after the station posted the headline “US Women WIN Gymnastics Gold!” on its Facebook page Tuesday morning, hours before NBC was set to air the competition.

KHQ web producer Jared Frank responded to criticism from viewers by calling them “whiners.” Read more

As you may have read, the London Games Opening Ceremony was the most-watched opening to an Olympics ever in the U.S. with 40.7 million viewers tuning in Friday night. That’s a million more than watched the 1996 Atlanta games (39.8 million viewers) and almost 6 million more than watched the Beijing opening ceremony four years ago (34.9 million viewers).

Here are the top 20 metered markets in rating and share (8 p.m. – 12:02 a.m. ET/PT on Friday, July 27, 2012):

1. San Diego (KNSD) 27.8/49
T2. Washington D.C. (WRC) 26.8/48
T2. West Palm Beach (WPTV) 26.8/48
4. Salt Lake City (KSL) 26.6/50
5. Denver (KUSA) 26.4/51
6. Norfolk (WAVY) 26.3/42
7. Sacramento (KCRA) 25.4/47
T8. Kansas City 25.0/44 (KSHB)
T8. Richmond (WWBT) 25.0/41
10. Columbus (WCMH) 24.9/43
T11. Boston (WHDH) 24.8/45
T11. Indianapolis (WTHR) 24.8/45
13. Seattle (KING) 24.4/48
14. Los Angeles (KNBC) 24.2/44
15. Atlanta (WXIA) 24.1/39
T16. Philadelphia (WCAU) 24.0/40
T16. Jacksonville (WTLV) 24.0/39
T18. Austin (KXAN) 23.9/44
T18. Ft. Myers (WBBH) 23.9/43
20. Portland (KGW) 23.8/48

After the jump, the Top 20 markets for Saturday, the first night of competition (8:30-11:28 p.m. ET/PT on July 28, 2012):

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When the 2012 Summer Olympics begin this July, viewers will be able to watch all 32 sports live on their computers.

NBC plans to stream the entire Olympics live on nbcolympics.com, with just one catch: the big events that will air on delay during NBC’s primetime show will not be archived on the site until after the broadcast.

NBC believes that giving viewers the ability to watch events live during the day will actually help the primetime broadcast.

“We’re not scared of cannibalization,” Rick Cordella, vice president and general manager of NBC Sports Digital Media, told The New York Times.  “Anytime you have a great event that happens before it shows on the air, it increases ratings and generates buzz.” Read more

NBC will continue broadcasting the Olympics through at least the next four games, according to the Associated Press. The Peacock Network won a three-way bidding war this week with a four-game deal worth more than $4 billion.

The deal comes with only the next two Olympics having host cities attached. The 2014 Winter Games will take place in Sochi, Russia while the 2016 Summer Olympics will be held in Rio de Janeiro.

The winning bid for the 2018 Games is scheduled to be announced on July 6th. The candidates are Annecy, France; Munich, Germany; and Pyeongchang, South Korea. The 2020 Games will be announced in 2013 and its possible that Chicago, which lost out on the 2016 Games, will emerge as a top contender.

NBC, which has broadcast the Summer Games since 1988 and the Winter Games since 2002, had its dynasty challenged this time around as Fox and ABC/ESPN submitted aggressive bids. Eight years ago, NBC easily outbid Fox for the rights to the 2010 and 2012 games with an offer of $2.2 billion.

>Update: The New York Times reports NBC’s winning bid as $4.3 billion.

Media General, which operates 18 stations focused mainly in southeastern markets, announced today that first quarter TV revenue had dropped 2.6% compared to the same period last year.

In its earnings report, Media General pointed to the same factors that Gannett mentioned in its first quarter announcement earlier this week: the absence of the Olympics on NBC-affiliates and the Super Bowl on CBS-affiliates caused a dip in revenue compared to 2010.

“We were pleased that our Broadcast television stations continued their strong performance,” said Marshall Morton, Media General’s president in CEO, putting a positive spin on things. “Total Broadcast revenues decreased $1.8 million, or 2.6 percent, from last year, despite the absence of $7.6 million in Olympics revenues and nearly $1 million in Super Bowl revenues.”

The company also reported that its local media websites experienced a strong gain in revenue, pulling in 20% more than the previous year.