The 2008 Beijing Olympic games were the most-viewed event in US television history, the National Broadcasting Company Universial (NBCU) said on Sunday.

The 16 days of Olympic competition and pageantry have struck gold for the NBCU collection of television channels, the NBCU said, quoting data from Neilsen Media Research.

Networks publicists claim 211 million Americans viewed part of the games on National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), Telemundo and the other NBCU networks that transmitted the games.

NBC paid nearly one billion dollars for rights to telecast the Beijing games, and will make a profit on them, industry analysts said, in addition to taking advantage to promote its networks, affiliates and owned-stations, according to TV analysts.

(Xinhua News Agency August 25, 2008)