If you’ve watched any of the coverage of the Vancouver Olympics on your NBC station, you may have noticed the variety of winter attire being worn by the reporters and anchors covering the games, including a certain puffy black coat. The jacket is part of the official USOC clothing from Ralph Lauren. In addition to being worn by the athletes, the clothing can be purchased at a USOC store in Vancouver. NBC’s affiliate news service reporter Jay Gray sported coat, including ginormous Polo logo, Friday during a live shot on WNBC. The following day, Gray wore a different coat.
This morning, Al Roker donned the same coat on “Today” but you’ll notice the ginormous logo disappeared — it’s covered with dark tape. Here’s why: so as not to appear to be endorsing a product, NBC News correspondents and anchors are asked cover up the logo — any corporate logo — when they go on the air.
Other notes:
• NBC won the night last night, up against FOX’s “American Idol.” This is the first time in six years “American Idol” has been beaten head-to-head. “Idol” topped Olympics coverage Tuesday night, but last night (thanks to Lindsey Vonn and Shaun White) NBC averaged 30 million viewers to Idol’s 18.4 million.
• The Olympics appear to be taking a bite out of CNN’s viewership. Last night, CNN came in fifth place among the cable news nets (FNC, MSNBC, HLN, CNBC) in the primetime A25-54 demo. It’s the fourth time this month and second time this week that CNN has placed fifth in prime demo.