I'll probably be going the VPN route for the Olympics this year. Here in the States NBC has exclusive broadcast rights. During the Beijing games they were testing online streaming for the first time, and it worked great. I could watch whatever I wanted, when I wanted. During the Vancouver games they decided to change things up and block access to most of the content unless you were subscribed to a participating cable or satellite provider. I happened to be house-sitting for my grandmother at the time who did have such a service. I could never get the authentication system to work.

So unless NBC changes its tune, I'll be looking to the BBC to actual provide coverage. Maybe even my friends to the north in Canada. My Canadian friends said the CBC's coverage of the Vancouver games was excellent.