- Oct 1, 2014
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Terrible news: TNT out bid the BBC for the commonwealth games coverage. what a disaster. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yj9pnl5n4o
here is all this great stuff you didn't ask for and won't watch. That'll be an extra fiver a month please.
yes and no, because whilst the Beeb might have been "free" their coverage of these types of events of late has been flippin awful, they seem to have lost the art of covering sports as sports, and want to editorialise everything or turn it into like a glossy magazine feature.
and long before TNT tried the hey lets drop one of our commentators totally unsuited to this sport to talk nonsense, the Beeb have had a football commentator, who is even more obsessed by stats than Hatch, doing all their cycling comms.
whilst Ill miss Boardmans input, I wont miss the rest of it, even though we know TNT will likely margianalise alot of the coverage, but again the Beeb have for years been chucking it on a low bitrate red button/web only version too
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- Apr 8, 2023
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Be interesting to see what happens next year if people are not paying for TNT in the UK.
https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/tnt-killed-the-tv-star
https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/tnt-killed-the-tv-star
- May 5, 2010
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please cant Hatch just sod off and do the Tour Down Under instead
Not right now...
he is in Oz right now, as theyve been doing ads for the TDU whilst he walks across the pitch at the MCG...maybe he'll stay on to add the tennis to his repetoire in between things.
TNT Sports Cycling on Instagram: "The biggest moments of 2025 — it’s time for a big end-of-season round-up!"
299 likes, 7 comments - tntsportscycling on December 26, 2025: "The biggest moments of 2025 — it’s time for a big end-of-season round-up!".
www.instagram.com
the harsh reality, frequently ignored by the cycling media in the UK and so not acknowledged by most UK cycling fans is, those 1,273 people probably accounted for most of the UK audience ITV were getting
Ok Im exaggerating, the viewing figures werent that bad, but there werent actually that good either. in fact most days of live TdF coverage vs the regular schedule, theyd get more people watching highlights of football matches from the 70s/80s, or repeats of shows from the 70s/80s/90s.
when they actually showed live football instead,and we arent talking majorly important world cup games, they were cup game replays, or international friendlies, theyd get millions of viewers watching.
this is why ITV struggled to get advertisers for the cycling coverage, this is why ITV have never imo being truly open and honest about what they wanted to do with the TdF. as ITV are losing ad revenue, having to do rounds of cost cutting, their shareprice has sunk 75% in the last 10 years.
do we really think they wanted to pay lots of money to fill 3 weeks of a schedule for viewing figures which are poorer than 40-50 year old repeats, and which they can get no marquee advertising available for, and so even though I suspect the budget for ITVs TdF broadcast was very small, they probably were losing money on it.
of course the perceived narrative is the nasty TNT came along and demanded exclusivity, even though that would be against the principles the EBU uphold on tv rights distribution,and so accidentally got ITV out of a bind.
though TNTS deal regardless of its setup, was never about grabbing ITVs audience, because as weve highlighted that was pretty small, and whilst they obviously wouldnt mind if they could upsell to new cycling subscribers, their current philosophy was/is all about using the breadth of sports they cover and to get people who view football or rugby or the NBA to start watching cycling more.
Because if they can do that, and theyve published evidence before that shows theyve managed to do it with their existing portfolio of sports, they can get advertisers who are keen to advertise to football or rugby fans, taking up slots for cycling coverage too, and if they can do that, that makes cycling much more profitable for them.
its interesting that the 2005 Ashes always gets cited as the "bad example" of pay walls, cricket was always a bit of a niche sport on tv, and it faced many of the issues the TdF has, took out lots time in a schedule, generally had low viewing figures during the day,also could be unpredictable with weather, though at least most games lasted 5 days back then.
the 2005 Ashes standout as they were different in many ways, it was the first time in nearly 20 years that England not only competed but beat Australia in an Ashes contest, ask any of the people claiming they can remember the last ball bowled on Channel 4 that year (and Channel 4 were cutting away to cover horse racing at various points in the games that year thats how bad FTA cricket coverage had become) if they can remember the 2001 Ashes, which were also FTA, or the 97, 93 surely they remember ball of the century live...no probably they can not, because they werent watching.
and yet here we are 20 years later and you can barely get tickets to watch test cricket anymore, they nearly always sell out, even if you could afford them. whereas most grounds you could walk up and buy tickets on the day back when the coverage was FTA. So has the paywall affected the sport ? its behind a paywall now and theres plenty of discourse in the UK media still about it, doesnt feel like its niche.
so what does it mean for cycling, well its been FTA for years (upto a point but Ive rambled on too long already) and the likes of Pog,Ving still dont make it into the conciousness of the British public, theyre still talking about Wiggo or Thomas, Hoy,Boardman those are the people that represent cycling as a sport to them, none of them will have a clue who Oscar Onley is.
Whatever 1,200 people do is never going to be relevant to the "future of the sport".
Armchair Cyclist
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- Mar 22, 2010
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What 88% of the viewership does is fairly significant (assuming it is a fair survey).
well it isnt is it ? a survey by a free Cycling magazine, filled in predominantly be people interested in reading a free cycling magazine, shock horror complain when they have to pay to watch cycling live on tv, and who nearly all forget they could have watched the highlights on Quest, just like we did back in the 90s on C4 when the only live cycling coverage you got was at the Olympics, we didnt even get world championships back then.
but all these tomes about worrying for the future of the sport in the UK, presumably theyve all been too busy watching their free TdF, to notice the sport has near damn collapsed in the UK already, when we had all this FTA coverage of the mens race, and its funny they never see not having live FTA coverage of the womens race as an issue, its only the mens race.
there are barely any UK cycling teams left, those that still exist, race almost exclusively in Europe because the UK road race scene is barely noticeable anymore. the Tour of Britain limps on, but loses alot of money.
all of this whilst we had FTA live coverage of the TdF, and only the TdF btw, they dont count the Giro or Vuelta, the classics or anything else clearly as that important to the sports coverage in the UK
so maybe we need to focus on why cycling isnt as popular as it was in the UK and fix that, as thats when broadcasters will pick it up as important, when its more popular again.
Armchair Cyclist
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- Mar 22, 2010
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Just heard in Cyclo-cross commentary: "Obviously we've got the World Cup, the Super Prestige the X2O series and the X Track series: that's four big series going on."
Errrm: is the fourth of those not a type of pedal? How can he possibly confuse that with a season-long competition?
Errrm: is the fourth of those not a type of pedal? How can he possibly confuse that with a season-long competition?
- Jan 22, 2010
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Armchair Cyclist
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- Mar 22, 2010
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So not a series of races. So what did he think he was on about? And will the sponsors of the Exact series be asking Disco + for some additional mentions to make up for it?
Imagine a sprint finish being replayed and the commentators calling it as if its actually happening again in real time and commentating how unbelievable it is...
Cos thats what Hatch did on the cricket last night, there was a run out, they showed a replay and Hatch went full "nononono not again...this is terrible" (quite) send mode.
10secs later his colleague who was looking out the window. ie I guess actually at the match and not stuck in a booth in London, had to point out it was just a replay.
I dread to think how bad cycling coverage could really get on TNT as this Ashes cricket has been beyond terrible, even accounting for the low quality of the teams playing
And just as im waiting for the cricket coverage to start and I spot its the Dakar, time for some dulcet tone poetry about deserts by Kirby. Oh no not this year, they've roped Hannah Walker into it and some guy who has all the charisma of an AI voice
And then I read Orla is off to do the Winter Olympics 🙃
Cos thats what Hatch did on the cricket last night, there was a run out, they showed a replay and Hatch went full "nononono not again...this is terrible" (quite) send mode.
10secs later his colleague who was looking out the window. ie I guess actually at the match and not stuck in a booth in London, had to point out it was just a replay.
I dread to think how bad cycling coverage could really get on TNT as this Ashes cricket has been beyond terrible, even accounting for the low quality of the teams playing
And just as im waiting for the cricket coverage to start and I spot its the Dakar, time for some dulcet tone poetry about deserts by Kirby. Oh no not this year, they've roped Hannah Walker into it and some guy who has all the charisma of an AI voice
And then I read Orla is off to do the Winter Olympics 🙃
Commentating remotely was okay during Covid, but it’s not okay now. Discovery/ WB/TNT trying to do it on the cheap, and it’s not on.
MTB World Cups have people on site, whereas the CX version have people remotely, likely from different places, as they now have separate co-commentators for men & women races. If you’re going to cover sports live, then do it properly - not this half arsed way.
MTB World Cups have people on site, whereas the CX version have people remotely, likely from different places, as they now have separate co-commentators for men & women races. If you’re going to cover sports live, then do it properly - not this half arsed way.
It was a necessity, and i know Eurosports history was very much born with that style, as it was cheaper to have someone in a cupboard in Kent talking about something on Tv happening elsewhere in the world. But those commentators I think knew the limitations and went the extra mile to ensure they werent talking nonsense most of the time.
It makes no sense to have half the team out there, just so they can stand on the pitch and interview people, whilst they have commentators stuck at home who clearly are out of their depth anyway but are compounding their mistakes by not actually understanding whats going on at the ground.
It makes no sense to have half the team out there, just so they can stand on the pitch and interview people, whilst they have commentators stuck at home who clearly are out of their depth anyway but are compounding their mistakes by not actually understanding whats going on at the ground.
The Fox sports dodgy stream has been good, with Ponting/Broad etc, will tune in tonight at least to see if the kid gets his 150, looks like a young KP with that ridiculous haircut. Hussain and Atherton have been doing a morning recap on Youtube which is also good.
I saw a clip of the run out, poor old Hatch, I really think he's alright in the cycling, cricket far too specialist a sport to just have an enthusiastic fan commentating though. He even gave it the trademark ohhh nononono, I half expected it to pan to Pogacar down on the floor clutching his arm.
I saw a clip of the run out, poor old Hatch, I really think he's alright in the cycling, cricket far too specialist a sport to just have an enthusiastic fan commentating though. He even gave it the trademark ohhh nononono, I half expected it to pan to Pogacar down on the floor clutching his arm.
Armchair Cyclist
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- Mar 22, 2010
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The edition of the Gruppetto released on 26 Dec was presented by him from the stands of the MCG. Maybe his family wanted shot of him for Christmas, but once they were all back at work/school they were happy enough for him to come home.
Armchair Cyclist
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- Mar 22, 2010
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TDU not showing on the forthcoming events on the Discovery + app...
Yep he was out there for the Melbourne test,no idea why he's not stayed out there when they're paying other people to be there instead of him.
Its even made the Daily Mail as "worst commentary ever" not even a Colemanballs anymore https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/c...t-fans-blast-TNT-Sports-commentary-error.html
- Apr 8, 2023
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Who will get to show the Giro etc on telly is apparently up for bids as WBD's Discovery's deal is over -
https://www.sportbusiness.com/news/exclusive-iris-lands-giro-international-rights/
Linkedin sports Buisness
Inner Ring blog has also some info - https://inrng.com/2026/01/wednesday-shorts-27/#more-46955
WBD is of course busy trying to sell itself.
https://www.sportbusiness.com/news/exclusive-iris-lands-giro-international-rights/
Linkedin sports Buisness
Inner Ring blog has also some info - https://inrng.com/2026/01/wednesday-shorts-27/#more-46955
WBD is of course busy trying to sell itself.
I look forward to all the FTA broadcasters rushing to get them... 🤣
I said a few weeks ago this is what I expected to start happening as Im still not sure how the WB sale might impact the Discovery tv bit in Europe
other than theyve suddenly got a much smaller bank balance to play with, and as rights deals came up as they inevitably do, DAZN would be the ones most likely to then get them as they're trying to increase their market share
None of which is great for us fans and the costs for multiple channels balloon in price
I said a few weeks ago this is what I expected to start happening as Im still not sure how the WB sale might impact the Discovery tv bit in Europe
other than theyve suddenly got a much smaller bank balance to play with, and as rights deals came up as they inevitably do, DAZN would be the ones most likely to then get them as they're trying to increase their market share
None of which is great for us fans and the costs for multiple channels balloon in price
- Jan 22, 2010
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