Campaign for ITV to show more cycling

[Andy99]

In the UK, pretty much the only way to watch live races on TV, other than the TDF, is via Eurosport (for which most people will pay a subscription).

ITV have the rights to many of the classics and other races, though for whatever reason choose only to broadcast delayed highlights - which are normally weeks or months after the event.

Cycling weekly (whilst generally a more than useless publication) is starting a campaign to try to persuade ITV to show more live races;

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest/519467/call-for-itv-to-broadcast-more-cycling.html

There are contact details for ITV at the bottom of the article.

 

[al_pacino]

I had no idea they had the rights for more races although I was slightly surprised to turn on the TV one Sunday morning last year and see week old highlights from Paris-Nice.

In their TdF coverage they've gone from daily highlights > daily highlights + live coverage of weekend stages > live coverage of every stage. This alone shows they must have the audience for it.

 

[Anonymous]

Glad to see this one has finally made the cycling press.

 

[Andy99]

Quick email I just drafted to ITV....

Dear Sir/Madam,

As an avid cycling fan, it has come to my attention that ITV hold the rights to broadcast many of the worlds top cycle races, though for whatever reason ITV only broadcast the Tour de France Live.

Whilst undoubtedly the Tour de France is perhaps the largest event in the cycling world, there are many other important races which are only available to view on Eurosport with a Satellite subscription.

I, and many thousands of others currently either subscribe to Eurosport or watch grainy coverage on dodgy internet feeds.

I write to try and convince ITV to consider showing more live cycling events and to try to assure ITV that there is a huge un-tapped market of potential viewers out there.

The popularity of cycle racing in the UK is going from strength to strength at the moment, and is being boosted by investment by companies such as SKY and News Corporation who have invested millions in setting up the Uk's first real professional team - Team Sky (http://www.teamsky.com).

I would envisage that advertising revenue would be boosted by covering such events - as would the viewership of ITV4 - which in turn is likely to see people invest is freesat, for example as a way to ensure reception of ITV4 where freeview coverage is patchy!

Many thanks for your time, and I hope you will consider covering major cycling events in the near future.

 

[Anonymous]

we have set up an instant email page here.
http://www.teamskyfans.com/itvcampaign.html

all you have to do is put an email address and name in and it will email ITV direct.

You can use either the standard comments that are in the form., or insert your own (or copy Andys from here)

Note: we dont see anyones email addresses or anything, its just set up to use an external (serifwebresources) server to contact ITV

 

[William H]

I can understand why they wouldn't show them live - they don't fit conveniently into a schedule, since the finish time is pretty variable. I just wish they could show the highlights more promptly.

 

[Anonymous]

Ive also dropped SKy a line to see if they will link to the cyclingweekly article or my page for extra push.

 

[Ferminal]

They would also have to supply their own commentary for most races wouldn't they? There's not often another broadcast in English they could borrow (I doubt Eurosport would let them!). But they already have enough cycling commentators in their stables to do that job? Even if it is just from their studios in the UK.

 

[lancaster]

the quality of programing on ITV4 (in particular) is very weak. predominantly very old re-runs of shows that were never great. I think it's very unlikely people plan to watch "the sweeney". people watch it because it's on.

plenty of room for cycling.

 

[luckyboy]

the quality of programing on ITV is very weak.

That's better

 

[will10]

Glad to see this one has finally made the cycling press.

I don't count Cycling Weakly as the cycling press.

 

[Anonymous]

Think itv may have been swamped

 

[euanli]

Ha I contacted them about this when it first started doing the rounds on twitter after antiteamsky posted about it but no reply.

feeble.

 

[Anonymous]

Ha I contacted them about this when it first started doing the rounds on twitter after antiteamsky posted about it but no reply.

feeble.

they have replied to a few people already today.

Think they are getting swamped though, not got our full stats yet but certainly a few hundred emails gone off via the tsf form.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Whinging poms...meh. What about us aussies?!

 

[The Hitch]

Personally im a bit wary of this because Eurosport does such good coverage and im worried that if Itv starts showing these races this will eat into the ES marketshare and theyll no longer see cycling as as profitable hence show less races.

they have replied to a few people already today.

Think they are getting swamped though, not got our full stats yet but certainly a few hundred emails gone off via the tsf form.

What have they said?

 

[Dalakhani]

the quality of programing on ITV4 (in particular) is very weak.

You can say that again. I saw a couple of Paris St-Germain reserve matches - oops, I mean "Europa League matches (... with their reserves playing) - live on ITV4 last year.

If they can show those, there's got to be a bigger audience for top-class pro cycling. (Classics, Giro, Vuelta etc.)

Also, for people who have Freeview, is there even an option to upgrade to Eurosport? Or are they restricted to basic channels?

Steve

 

[LugHugger]

Personally im a bit wary of this because Eurosport does such good coverage and im worried that if Itv starts showing these races this will eat into the ES marketshare and theyll no longer see cycling as as profitable hence show less races.




What have they said?

Perhaps Eurosport could improve the quality of their commentators then? Harmon and Kirkby are irritating in the extreme - no issues with Backstedt and Kelly though

A bit of competition never hurt anybody. Increased viewing demand should push up the ad revenues resulting in better returns for both Eurosport and ITV, no?

 

[Andy99]

You can say that again. I saw a couple of Paris St-Germain reserve matches - oops, I mean "Europa League matches (... with their reserves playing) - live on ITV4 last year.

If they can show those, there's got to be a bigger audience for top-class pro cycling. (Classics, Giro, Vuelta etc.)

Also, for people who have Freeview, is there even an option to upgrade to Eurosport? Or are they restricted to basic channels?

Steve

Nope. Only available via satellite or cable.

 

[The Hitch]

You can say that again. I saw a couple of Paris St-Germain reserve matches - oops, I mean "Europa League matches (... with their reserves playing) - live on ITV4 last year.

If they can show those, there's got to be a bigger audience for top-class pro cycling. (Classics, Giro, Vuelta etc.)

Also, for people who have Freeview, is there even an option to upgrade to Eurosport? Or are they restricted to basic channels?

Steve

Unfortunately in this country, the Surrey County under 11 girls league is more likely to get televised then cycling.

The day after Wigo got 3rd in PN i picked up newspapers seeing if any had even a little note in the corner about it. Some had several pages dedicated to league 1 football, some stories about non league even, but no cycling.

 

[Anonymous]

the fact that the latest news on the itv cycling page is boasson hagen winning the tour of britain in 2009 says it all

http://www.itv.com/sport/Cycling/default.html

 

[Sum_of_Marc]

the fact that the latest news on the itv cycling page is boasson hagen winning the tour of britain in 2009 says it all

http://www.itv.com/sport/Cycling/default.html

Thats just because they have a separate Tour de France page, and a separate Tour of Britain page

 

[JPM London]

we have set up an instant email page here.
http://www.teamskyfans.com/itvcampaign.html

all you have to do is put an email address and name in and it will email ITV direct.

You can use either the standard comments that are in the form., or insert your own (or copy Andys from here)

Note: we dont see anyones email addresses or anything, its just set up to use an external (serifwebresources) server to contact ITV

Thanks Dim, that was easy. Let's get some more wheels on the telly!!!

Personally im a bit wary of this because Eurosport does such good coverage and im worried that if Itv starts showing these races this will eat into the ES marketshare and theyll no longer see cycling as as profitable hence show less races.

I don't quite get that - so the less cycling gets in the media the more interesting and profitable it gets? Nope, still doesn't make sense to me...

 

[The Hitch]

I don't quite get that - so the less cycling gets in the media the more interesting and profitable it gets? Nope, still doesn't make sense to me...

People who might be paying extra for eurosport will realise that a lot of what they want to see is on itv, so stop watching ES and start watching it on ITV. ES loses viewers hence starts cutting races.

 

[JPM London]

People who might be paying extra for eurosport will realise that a lot of what they want to see is on itv, so stop watching ES and start watching it on ITV. ES loses viewers hence starts cutting races.

The short of it is we have too little cycling on the telly. Although I can see your point I think the main problem is that the market is underdeveloped - whether there is enough of a market, I don't know, but it'd be nice if somebody would try to actually bring a proper product out there.