CBC’s coverage of the Beijing Olympic Games ended on a high note for the broadcaster, which now moves aside as the CTV-Rogers Olympic consortium takes over for the 2010 and 2012 winter and summer spectacles.

CBC bested the average primetime viewership of the Athens Games, scoring nearly 1.3 million viewers from Aug. 8-24, compared to 1.1 million in 2004. The pubcaster rendered over 2,400 hours of total coverage for China’s first Olympic Games. (All numbers 2+.)

The departure of main host Ron MacLean last Wednesday after the death of his mother did not appear to put a damper on things, as morning co-host Scott Russell took over for the remainder of the Games.

Beijing was good to NBC as well, with the U.S. caster wrapping up its coverage with an average audience of 27 million viewers, an 8% increase from Athens, according to BBM Nielsen.

Over 1.4 million viewers tuned in for the Ceeb’s taped rebroadcast of the closing ceremony on Sunday night, while the earlier live presentation nabbed a combined 933,000 viewers on CBC and CBC Newsworld.

Simon Whitfield attracted the most eyeballs for his nail-biter triathlon event on Aug. 18, in which the Victoria native crossed the finish line just seconds after German athlete Jan Frodeno to capture a silver medal. The event peaked at 2.5 million viewers.

CBC received an all-around thumbs-up for its coverage, with The Globe and Mail calling it ‘effective and compelling,’ while Sun Media praised the commentary of the athletes and noted that CBC hosts ‘were on the mark.’

Canada captured 18 medals in all.