NBC Universal and General Electric (NYSE: GE) Lose $223 Million on 2010 Olympic Coverage

General Electric (NYSE: GE) released its first quarter earnings results which included substantial losses from NBC’s coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada.

GE posted a 32% drop in earnings, but still beat analyst estimates. Chairman Jeffrey Immelt said that  he believed the economy was improving along with the company’s profit margins with a couple of exceptions in its divisions.

“NBC, because of the Olympics, was a drag on margins overall,” Immelt said.

NBC Universal’s operating profit of $199 million was down nearly 50% compared to the same quarter in 2009. Revenue for the company was up 23% from Q1 2009, totaling $4.32 billion, but remained flat when ad-sales for the Olympics were excluded from the results.

G.E. warned investors earlier in the year that NBC would lose as much as $250 million on its coverage of the 2010 Olympics, however the total losses were slightly less than G.E. had feared, totaling $223 million thanks to better-than-anticipated advertising.

“In the end, the sales were better,” GE Chief Financial Officer Keith Sherin said.

Ratings for the 2010 Olympics were 14% higher than the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.

NBC took in about $800 million in advertising revenue related to the Olympics, but the company paid $820 million to the International Olympics Committee for the TV rights.