There's no denying the thrill of seeing Michael Phelps or Usain Bolt handily take the gold in the Beijing Olympics. And NBC made sure its broadcast outlet, which needed a boost out of last place among the networks, was the primary source for that viewing. The network said that 75 percent of its programming on the flagship channel would be live.

At the same time, NBC's seven other video outlets—cable networks and its website, NBCOlympics.com—also carried coverage as part of the network's promised 3,600 hours of Olympics. But there were grumblings on the internet that the website carried too few must-see events, and that its programming software from Microsoft made the experience less easily accessible. In fact, some fans with incompatible systems were unable to use the software at all.

We asked Portfolio.com readers how they have been consuming the Beijing Olympics. Nearly 400 people responded, and the results were likely in line with NBC's goals: 45 percent got their Olympics exclusively from television; 17 percent went online for specific events; 5 percent watched the games online only; about 9 percent used multiple outlets; and a full 23 percent said they hadn't kept up with the Olympics at all. Michael Phelps who?