Australian Coverage of Cycling...disgraceful

[auscyclefan94]

Yeah SBS is my favourite channel for that reason. Just a shame the rugby league and cricket (and I do enjoy a bit of AFL on TV as well) are not on SBS as well, because I would be in heathen.

All we need is some ultra rich cycling fan to step up and make sure SBS gets full coverage of the Giro and the Vuelta.

If we had Ch 7 we could have Bruce Mcavaney on there saying some of his favourite phrases such as "special" or "delicious" when Contador is riding away on the climbs and Dennis Cometti saying "centimetre perfect" when Cav just gets home across in 1st in the sprints.

On SBS, I do like some of the features and extras they do but I don't like Tomalaris with his naiveity and I disliked some of the comments after the morzine stage but generally the experts on there ususally shut Tomo up.

It is the only channel which actually runs on time and never has delays due to programming.

 

[waitforme]

Is Eurosport - on Foxtel right - worth it for the cycling? What do they carry?

Re SBS coverage, I'm a glass half full guy. All stages live - fantastic. Hat's off to them for investing in building an audience for cycling on TV. Could it be improved? - for sure. But a solid B+.

I rate Matt Keenan a lot, his depth of knowledge is superb. Promote him to the A team for the commentary and put him alongside an "expert comments" ex pro with tactical nous - not sure who though. Let PS and PL retire with Lance.

 

[Saddlesaw]

Is Eurosport - on Foxtel right - worth it for the cycling? What do they carry?

Re SBS coverage, I'm a glass half full guy. All stages live - fantastic. Hat's off to them for investing in building an audience for cycling on TV. Could it be improved? - for sure. But a solid B+.

I rate Matt Keenan a lot, his depth of knowledge is superb. Promote him to the A team for the commentary and put him alongside an "expert comments" ex pro with tactical nous - not sure who though. Let PS and PL retire with Lance.

Eurosport is fantastic for cycling, but as others have said it is not carrying TdF. The commentators are ok, Kelly mumbles himself stupid and like others on SBS, he doesn't give Cadel his dues. Harmon (spelling?) is the other commentator and I think he is ok. They had great coverage of the classics this year and full (live every day) Giro this year. Which is a good and bad thing....I haven't had a lot of sleep over the past two months.......

 

[El Imbatido]

Eurosport is fantastic for cycling, but as others have said it is not carrying TdF. The commentators are ok, Kelly mumbles himself stupid and like others on SBS, he doesn't give Cadel his dues. Harmon (spelling?) is the other commentator and I think he is ok. They had great coverage of the classics this year and full (live every day) Giro this year. Which is a good and bad thing....I haven't had a lot of sleep over the past two months.......

They do carry the TdF just not in Australia because SBS has exclusive rights to it in Australia till 2013 IIRC. But just about every other race they do is live ie. Even this year when Tirreno-Adriatico and Paris-Nice were on at the same time i'm pretty sure they did both live just on separate Eurosport channels (ie. Eurosport and Eurosport2) and then replayed the one they had on the second channel on the main channel later.

 

[Dewulf]

Is Eurosport - on Foxtel right - worth it for the cycling? What do they carry?

Re SBS coverage, I'm a glass half full guy. All stages live - fantastic. Hat's off to them for investing in building an audience for cycling on TV. Could it be improved? - for sure. But a solid B+.

I rate Matt Keenan a lot, his depth of knowledge is superb. Promote him to the A team for the commentary and put him alongside an "expert comments" ex pro with tactical nous - not sure who though. Let PS and PL retire with Lance.

yeah, i have to go with this. Sorry ACF, I think at times (maybe not consistently) Tomo and co have supported Cadel, and certainly the Age have had updates on their site very quickly.

On the other hand, I am bit disappointed in the overall commentary both pre, during and post race, with the exception of Matt Keenan. Phil A who is obviously a complete legend, doesn't really seem to be meant for TV. For all his experience, he doesn't really say much at all.

Tomo is just, as mentioned, utterly stupid or naive. He almost seems like a troll, asking stupid questions so someone has to explain what everyone else can already see. Actually I'm sure it's scripted that way sometimes, but it just makes him look like an idiot to anyone who knows. I mean, for example, why talk about how much Lance (or whichever GC contender) is down on Fab at the end of the cobbles.....it's not Fab the GC contender needs to make time on. :/

Dave McKenzie is good, tho we don't see him enough.

As for PS and PL.....well i think the thread below says it all, if you have any funny Phil or Paul sayings please add them there. And agreed, let them retire with Lance!

http://forum.cyclingnews.com/showthread.php?t=8471