We’ve published several articles looking at how NBC & the Olympics are losing viewers with the restrictions they’ve placed on online coverage, and noted that millions may be turning to unofficial sources like BitTorrent or skipping the Olympics altogether as a result.

Some think that NBC has a winning strategy, though: use online video to drive broadcast television viewing and for replays of events after they’ve been broadcast.

For example, Will Richmond of VideoNuze says NBC’s coverage is exceeding his expectations:

“Overall, the user experience is excellent. Beyond the well thought-out navigation, a key part of the experience owes to Microsoft Silverlight which enables totally new broadband video capabilities. Picture-in-picture, 4 live concurrent streams, zero-buffer rewinding, and of course glorious video quality (even in large-screen mode) are all breakthroughs. So far I haven’t seen or heard about any delivery or viewing glitches.”

“One week in, the first Broadband Olympics are redefining broadband’s potential and setting a new quality bar for future events.”

Let me know what you think. Is NBC smart to sacrifice some of the online audience in order to maximize its broadcast revenue?