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This morning’s New York Times carries an article about the Olympics broadcast and mistakenly, I think, categorizes the battle as network vs. web. “[T]he Olympics are also a powerful illustration of the current battle line between the big business of network television and the emerging medium of Web video.”

Hey, there is no battle between the network and anything or anyone. Any more.

Some marketing traditionalist are reading the Olympic-size TV ratings as vindication that network TV is still king.

Alan Wurtzel, NBC’s president of research (a rather unbiased source, don’t you think, NYT?), even suggests in the article, “[T]he more things changed, the more they remain the same… the big 800-pound gorilla will remain network television. ”

But the 73 year-old Mr. Wurtzel misses the point, I think. People aren’t watching the Olympics on their televisions because it’s on a network. They’re watching it because nothing compares to the unfolding drama of a live sporting event in high definition on a big screen. If they could get the programming via some other source, other than NBC, they would. Or more accurately, they wouldn’t care. The whole concept of network-as-a-brand is dead, don’t you think? Is NBC a must-see anymore?

It’s like saying Warner Bros. is the big 800-pound gorilla because everyone went to see “Harry Potter.”

No, the “Harry Potter” movie is king. Not Warner Bros, nor the local AMC theater for that matter. Just like the Olympics in Beijing is king, too. Not NBC. The network is irrelevant. Hell, I’d watch the Olympics on YouTube, Hulu or iTunes if I could get it seamlessly connected to my Sony.

But this misapplication of anecdotal evidence by a network head shouldn’t surprise anyone. Aren’t these the guys who initially laughed off the consequences of TiVo?

So here’s the score, there is not battle between the networks and web, or web video. The only real battle was between the networks and the viewers to determine who would control any time shifting. The viewers won – or at least are winning by three touchdowns with under two minutes to play. (Check the media stock valuations for the real score. And, yes, I know NBC is owned by GE, but you get my point.) Viewers will watch what they want, when they want, and on the best technology available. And let’s be honest, there are only like three or four major events on TV that will deliver viewers like the Olympics. And “I Survived a Japanese Game Show” isn’t one of them.

The more things changed, the more they remain the same? Anyone at NBC research talked to a teenager lately? No? I see, they were too busy Twittering to fill out the Nielsen logs. Sorry, punching in the People Meter codes. Whatever.