Beijing Olympics hold steady Monday

NBC held steady on its 10th night of Beijing Olympics competition coverage Monday night, though dropped slightly from Athens four years ago.

The network posted an 18.9 (30 share) in the meter market overnights, down about 6% from four years ago. During primetime, NBC delivered 25.4 million viewers (8.3 preliminary adults 18-49 rating and a 23 share). For the 11-day Olympics track including the opening ceremony, NBC remains up 4% in the adult demo and 12% in total viewers compared to Athens.

Although Nastia Liukin losing the gold medal to an obscure tie-breaking system is receiving the bulk of the press this morning, a favorite moment last night came near the end of NBC's telecast when commentators laid into pole vaulter Jenn Stuczynski's brutish coach who -- seemingly unaware he was on camera -- gave his athlete a dressing down after she won the silver medal (video clip here).

CBS placed second (averaging 6.3 milliion, 2.0/5) and Fox third (averaging 2.6 million, 0.9/2) with repeats. ABC was fourth, with an original episode of "High School Musical: Get in the Picture" (2.1 million, 0.5/2) dropping below the red line for a major broadcast program to tie CW's repeat of “One Tree Hill” as the night's lowest-rated show.