Athletes weren't the only ones partying when the Beijing Olympics ended on Aug. 24. With more than 214 million viewers—the biggest audience in American TV history—having watched at least some of the 17-day event, NBC (GE) sold more than $1 billion worth of advertising and generated profits of just under $100 million. On top of that, parent company General Electric (GE) sold $700 million in services to the Chinese. NBC might have rung up more than $5.8 million in online ad sales had it put more live events on the Web. Its gold-medal performance has ESPN contemplating making a rival bid for the 2012 and 2016 Games