Cycling on USA TVs, desktops, laptops, and handheld devices

[Koronin]

Re:

Wow, just wow.

"Officer! I demand that this fruit seller be arrested! I bought an apple off him for a quarter and now he wants to charge me ANOTHER quarter for this orange!"

There are days I wish that no content on the internet had EVER been free. The entitlement it's bred in some people...

It has to do with as a cable/Sat subscriber you are ALREADY paying NBC for content. I would pay for Eurosport, but the US Govt won't allow that. I will NOT pay for something I'm ALREADY paying for. Flo Bikes I may pay for IF I had the extra money, but I will NOT pay for NBC on a matter of principle. There are a LOT of other people who feel the same way.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

Re: Re:

Wow, just wow.

"Officer! I demand that this fruit seller be arrested! I bought an apple off him for a quarter and now he wants to charge me ANOTHER quarter for this orange!"

There are days I wish that no content on the internet had EVER been free. The entitlement it's bred in some people...

It has to do with as a cable/Sat subscriber you are ALREADY paying NBC for content. I would pay for Eurosport, but the US Govt won't allow that. I will NOT pay for something I'm ALREADY paying for. Flo Bikes I may pay for IF I had the extra money, but I will NOT pay for NBC on a matter of principle. There are a LOT of other people who feel the same way.

As a Yank I kinda see it from both sides - I am absolutely not happy about having to pay extra for NBC Sports Gold, but being there seems to be little interest in sports such as cycling or xc-skiing in the US I can see why NBC would want to make some extra money from viewers who do wish to see these "niche" sports.

I actually ended up cancelling DirecTV's "sports package" because all it included was just more baseball and NFL coverage (it didn't even include the Olympic Channel or golf channel ), I can get enough of football and baseball on regular satellite channels. Grrrrrr....

Anyhoo, it's really frustrating that American TV broadcasters have found a way to exploit the sports fan who likes less popular sports (I remember the days when you could watch winter Olympic sports without having to pay extra), but it's an unfortunate reality.

 

[Carols]

Re: Re:

It's highway robbery that NBC charges for their streaming service when you are already paying for NBC through your cable/satellite provider. Also the teams don't see a dime of the TV revenue and some of the races actually PAY to get their races on TV.

You don't have to have a cable or satellite provider to subscribe to NBC Sports Gold. I don't. Teams are far from the only stakeholders in the sport.

But for those who do have cable/satellite subscriptions should NOT be paying for Gold because we are ALREADY paying for NBC. Not that hard to understand and the reason many people will NOT purchase it because we are already paying for it. Having a cable/Satellite subscription and then paying for Gold on top of that is paying for the same thing TWICE.

THIS. As a long time NBCSports (Versus, OutdoorLife) subscriber I used to get INCLUDED live streams. It's only a few years now that NBC started charging for Gold and cutting the live TV coverage to a pittance of what was once given. Now they have done it with figure skating also . Greedy corporate #$%$#.

I'd drop the TV stations except I can record both the Tour(NBCSports) and Vuelta (OlympicChannel) live and make a composite dvd of the races for future viewing. I can usually edit down a GT to 6-8 hours and watch it during the winter while on the rollers.

Gold is now up to $60 per year, Flobikes is $150 per year and the optional TV channels are $240 per year. My cycling addiction adds up! Especially now that I'm a pensioner and the prices go up every year .

 

[Carols]

Re:

nbc gold is one payment of $30 for the entire year, though. it's not even $3/month, that's basically just paying for the bandwidth they use to upload the races.

You'll find it's up to $59.99 this year.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

Re: Re:

nbc gold is one payment of $30 for the entire year, though. it's not even $3/month, that's basically just paying for the bandwidth they use to upload the races.

You'll find it's up to $59.99 this year.

This.

Right now you would pay only $20 for the cycling pass, but that only includes some of the Spring Classics, and as I just found out, it doesn't even include the Giro!

Where the heck am I going to watch the Giro, it's not listed on NBC's Schedule and I am paid up through June. I am totally freaking out right now!

 

[Carols]

Re: Re:

nbc gold is one payment of $30 for the entire year, though. it's not even $3/month, that's basically just paying for the bandwidth they use to upload the races.

You'll find it's up to $59.99 this year.

This.

Right now you would pay only $20 for the cycling pass, but that only includes some of the Spring Classics, and as I just found out, it doesn't even include the Giro!

Where the heck am I going to watch the Giro, it's not listed on NBC's Schedule and I am paid up through June. I am totally freaking out right now!

The Giro is on Flobikes. You can sign up or $30 per month and get May only. Or $150 per year and get most of the races NBC doesn't have.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

Re: Re:

The Giro is on Flobikes. You can sign up or $30 per month and get May only. Or $150 per year and get most of the races NBC doesn't have.

Thanks for the tip, Carol.

Hey, didn't we just go through this last year? Seems like every year I'm trying to find a way to legally (or ilegally) watch the Giro, seeing as it's my favorite GT.

I'll have to check into the Flobikes thing, am not familiar with it.

 

[jaylew]

I've yet to see a solution that was worth paying for. As it is, I watch every race year round for free on the big screen, including all the men's and women's cross races. However, if something came along that enabled me to easily watch ALL the races for a reasonable fee, I'd go for it.

 

[Carols]

Re: Re:

The Giro is on Flobikes. You can sign up or $30 per month and get May only. Or $150 per year and get most of the races NBC doesn't have.

Thanks for the tip, Carol.

Hey, didn't we just go through this last year? Seems like every year I'm trying to find a way to legally (or ilegally) watch the Giro, seeing as it's my favorite GT.

I'll have to check into the Flobikes thing, am not familiar with it.

Well Flobikes had the Giro last year so it'll be 2 years in a row! WOW!

 

[Carols]

Re:

I've yet to see a solution that was worth paying for. As it is, I watch every race year round for free on the big screen, including all the men's and women's cross races. However, if something came along that enabled me to easily watch ALL the races for a reasonable fee, I'd go for it.

Please share how you manage to accomplish that .

 

[Tricycle Rider]

Re: Re:

Well Flobikes had the Giro last year so it'll be 2 years in a row! WOW!

Think I'll just fork out the $30 for the Giro come May at flobikes - am not happy about it, but I'm even less happy with the choppy illegal feeds. So, yeah.

 

[Koronin]

Tricycle Rider -- The Olympic Channel is part of the sports package on Dish Network. It is an HD channel so you have to make sure you have a DVR/Receiver that gets HD. Unfortunately we didn't upgrade to that until after the Worlds last year. (Did get the replay of the men's race recorded though). Also because of how old my old DVR is they let me just keep it so I still have some of the 2016 Giro on it. That was the last year BEin sports had the Italian races. Also have a couple of Fleche Wallone and LBL on that DVR. So it's basically a "DVD" player as I can connect it to a TV, but cannot connect it to anything that is connected to the current Dish receiver, it has to be kept "off-line".

If I can come up with the extra money I'm willing to pay for Flo Bikes and likely will look at paying for it for the Giro this year.

Carlos, exactly!!!!! The Indy Car fans (which is a much larger fan base here) are POed about them putting the Indy Car stuff behind the pay wall of Gold. I really hope not many will pay for it.

 

[Carols]

Re: Re:

Well Flobikes had the Giro last year so it'll be 2 years in a row! WOW!

Think I'll just fork out the $30 for the Giro come May at flobikes - am not happy about it, but I'm even less happy with the choppy illegal feeds. So, yeah.

I just realized May won't get you the last 2 stages, as it ends on 6/2. But go look at the May calendar, there is a riches of races besides the Giro that you will get . Great streams also.

 

[Carols]

Re:

Carlos, exactly!!!!! The Indy Car fans (which is a much larger fan base here) are POed about them putting the Indy Car stuff behind the pay wall of Gold. I really hope not many will pay for it.

It's Carols. I'm female .
Wow talk about corporate greed NBC has now put 12 sports behind the paywall and you have to buy each separately. Gold used to be for those that weren't channel subscribers, so they had a cheap option to see their sport. Now it's just a way to screw subscribers .

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

Carlos, exactly!!!!! The Indy Car fans (which is a much larger fan base here) are POed about them putting the Indy Car stuff behind the pay wall of Gold. I really hope not many will pay for it.

It's Carols. I'm female .
Wow talk about corporate greed NBC has now put 12 sports behind the paywall and you have to buy each separately. Gold used to be for those that weren't channel subscribers, so they had a cheap option to see their sport. Now it's just a way to screw subscribers .

Sorry, Obviously misread the name.
Exactly!

 

[Tricycle Rider]

Re: Re:

I just realized May won't get you the last 2 stages, as it ends on 6/2. But go look at the May calendar, there is a riches of races besides the Giro that you will get . Great streams also.

No worries, while the last two Giro stages look rather interesting at least they'll be taking place over the weekend, so seeing as I'll be off work I'll have more to time to look for what the darker parts of the webs have to offer in terms of coverage. (I know the riders will be suffering those last two racing days in June, but I'm not willing to suffer along with them by paying yet another $30. :lol: )

 

[Nacho]

Nice discussion here.

Koronin: I'm with you here. I also won't pay NBC (and/or NBCSN) another penny for their coverage of cycling as I pay for their coverage/channel with my Sling TV subscription. And it pisses me off to no end that they will show a few of the races still on NBCSN at 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning, edited down to cover mostly pre-race and post-race. Why can't they instead show soccer or curling at 1:00am, or better yet, put them behind a paywall?

 

[Koronin]

Nice discussion here.

Koronin: I'm with you here. I also won't pay NBC (and/or NBCSN) another penny for their coverage of cycling as I pay for their coverage/channel with my Sling TV subscription. And it pisses me off to no end that they will show a few of the races still on NBCSN at 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning, edited down to cover mostly pre-race and post-race. Why can't they instead show soccer or curling at 1:00am, or better yet, put them behind a paywall?

Or even better put NASCAR behind a paywall. Actually I do want to see what would happen if they did that.

This is why if I had the money I don't have an issue with purchasing cycling from FloBikes, but I won't give NBC another dime.

 

[Nacho]

I'm kind of wondering who NBCSN will get to fill in for the void left by Paul Sherwen's death. I'll really miss him -- I think he was by far the best personality on the team. Vande Velde isn't capable of it, and I don't even know if Bob can fill that, though I think he is the closest one on the team that might be able.

 

[Koronin]

I'm kind of wondering who NBCSN will get to fill in for the void left by Paul Sherwen's death. I'll really miss him -- I think he was by far the best personality on the team. Vande Velde isn't capable of it, and I don't even know if Bob can fill that, though I think he is the closest one on the team that might be able.

Christian is more likely to fill Phil's role than Paul's. I actually like when Christian and Steve Schlanger are together in the booth. I think Steve might be a good option. Christian was doing more and more races with Paul. I actually don't like Bob in the booth that well. Last year Christian did the Ardennes and the Worlds with Paul along with doing the Duaphine and California as he been doing the previous year or two.

 

[Nacho]

I'm kind of wondering who NBCSN will get to fill in for the void left by Paul Sherwen's death. I'll really miss him -- I think he was by far the best personality on the team. Vande Velde isn't capable of it, and I don't even know if Bob can fill that, though I think he is the closest one on the team that might be able.

Christian is more likely to fill Phil's role than Paul's. I actually like when Christian and Steve Schlanger are together in the booth. I think Steve might be a good option. Christian was doing more and more races with Paul. I actually don't like Bob in the booth that well. Last year Christian did the Ardennes and the Worlds with Paul along with doing the Duaphine and California as he been doing the previous year or two.

Meh. They only time I like CVV is when they put him out on a bike previewing the coming stage. I like Bob OK. He's knowledgeable, and very handy when a translator is needed. That guy must know 15 different languages. There was another announcer I liked pretty good -- a couple of years back when they would show the Paris-Nice and Dauphine races on NBCSN live during the day. He would announce those, with another side kick. I don't remember his name, but style-wise he sounded a lot like Al Michaels did. I haven't heard him since they took those races off of the NBCSN live TV schedule.

 

[Koronin]

I'm kind of wondering who NBCSN will get to fill in for the void left by Paul Sherwen's death. I'll really miss him -- I think he was by far the best personality on the team. Vande Velde isn't capable of it, and I don't even know if Bob can fill that, though I think he is the closest one on the team that might be able.

Christian is more likely to fill Phil's role than Paul's. I actually like when Christian and Steve Schlanger are together in the booth. I think Steve might be a good option. Christian was doing more and more races with Paul. I actually don't like Bob in the booth that well. Last year Christian did the Ardennes and the Worlds with Paul along with doing the Duaphine and California as he been doing the previous year or two.

Meh. They only time I like CVV is when they put him out on a bike previewing the coming stage. I like Bob OK. He's knowledgeable, and very handy when a translator is needed. That guy must know 15 different languages. There was another announcer I liked pretty good -- a couple of years back when they would show the Paris-Nice and Dauphine races on NBCSN live during the day. He would announce those, with another side kick. I don't remember his name, but style-wise he sounded a lot like Al Michaels did. I haven't heard him since they took those races off of the NBCSN live TV schedule.

Bob annoys the heck out me worse than Phil does. Phil at least has the excuse of age and not remembering things. Bob is alright with translations but most of the time has less of a clue what is going on with Movistar's team than Christian does. Of course in that case Christian has the advantage that he's friends with Valverde and just goes to him when he wants to know something going on in that team. I like Bob in the desk role at the Tour, but don't like him in the booth.
Don't know who that was. However neither Bob or Christian will replace Paul as they aren't "play by play" guys they are color guys, which is the role Phil has at the Tour. As I said it seems that they are moving Christian into that role roll more and more. Phil mostly only does the Tour now and last year for the first time Christian was doing the Ardennes, which Bob had done the few years before. One of the things that annoyed me in those races is you are at the Ardennes and Bob and Paul spent the entire race talking about everyone except the rider who is the favorite in those races. Christian on the other hand made sure he along with anyone else capable of winning was talked about. You need a play by play guy which Schlanger is.

 

[Carols]

I'm kind of wondering who NBCSN will get to fill in for the void left by Paul Sherwen's death. I'll really miss him -- I think he was by far the best personality on the team. Vande Velde isn't capable of it, and I don't even know if Bob can fill that, though I think he is the closest one on the team that might be able.

Christian is more likely to fill Phil's role than Paul's. I actually like when Christian and Steve Schlanger are together in the booth. I think Steve might be a good option. Christian was doing more and more races with Paul. I actually don't like Bob in the booth that well. Last year Christian did the Ardennes and the Worlds with Paul along with doing the Duaphine and California as he been doing the previous year or two.

Meh. They only time I like CVV is when they put him out on a bike previewing the coming stage. I like Bob OK. He's knowledgeable, and very handy when a translator is needed. That guy must know 15 different languages. There was another announcer I liked pretty good -- a couple of years back when they would show the Paris-Nice and Dauphine races on NBCSN live during the day. He would announce those, with another side kick. I don't remember his name, but style-wise he sounded a lot like Al Michaels did. I haven't heard him since they took those races off of the NBCSN live TV schedule.

Bob annoys the heck out me worse than Phil does. Phil at least has the excuse of age and not remembering things. Bob is alright with translations but most of the time has less of a clue what is going on with Movistar's team than Christian does. Of course in that case Christian has the advantage that he's friends with Valverde and just goes to him when he wants to know something going on in that team. I like Bob in the desk role at the Tour, but don't like him in the booth.
Don't know who that was. However neither Bob or Christian will replace Paul as they aren't "play by play" guys they are color guys, which is the role Phil has at the Tour. As I said it seems that they are moving Christian into that role roll more and more. Phil mostly only does the Tour now and last year for the first time Christian was doing the Ardennes, which Bob had done the few years before. One of the things that annoyed me in those races is you are at the Ardennes and Bob and Paul spent the entire race talking about everyone except the rider who is the favorite in those races. Christian on the other hand made sure he along with anyone else capable of winning was talked about. You need a play by play guy which Schlanger is.

LOL anybody but Voight . Bob is Okay when he is calling a race, he isn't such a goof. CVV is Okay. Schlanger is decent but I'd like to see GoGo, he was always great when Universal had all the RCS races.

 

[Koronin]

I'm kind of wondering who NBCSN will get to fill in for the void left by Paul Sherwen's death. I'll really miss him -- I think he was by far the best personality on the team. Vande Velde isn't capable of it, and I don't even know if Bob can fill that, though I think he is the closest one on the team that might be able.

Christian is more likely to fill Phil's role than Paul's. I actually like when Christian and Steve Schlanger are together in the booth. I think Steve might be a good option. Christian was doing more and more races with Paul. I actually don't like Bob in the booth that well. Last year Christian did the Ardennes and the Worlds with Paul along with doing the Duaphine and California as he been doing the previous year or two.

Meh. They only time I like CVV is when they put him out on a bike previewing the coming stage. I like Bob OK. He's knowledgeable, and very handy when a translator is needed. That guy must know 15 different languages. There was another announcer I liked pretty good -- a couple of years back when they would show the Paris-Nice and Dauphine races on NBCSN live during the day. He would announce those, with another side kick. I don't remember his name, but style-wise he sounded a lot like Al Michaels did. I haven't heard him since they took those races off of the NBCSN live TV schedule.

Bob annoys the heck out me worse than Phil does. Phil at least has the excuse of age and not remembering things. Bob is alright with translations but most of the time has less of a clue what is going on with Movistar's team than Christian does. Of course in that case Christian has the advantage that he's friends with Valverde and just goes to him when he wants to know something going on in that team. I like Bob in the desk role at the Tour, but don't like him in the booth.
Don't know who that was. However neither Bob or Christian will replace Paul as they aren't "play by play" guys they are color guys, which is the role Phil has at the Tour. As I said it seems that they are moving Christian into that role roll more and more. Phil mostly only does the Tour now and last year for the first time Christian was doing the Ardennes, which Bob had done the few years before. One of the things that annoyed me in those races is you are at the Ardennes and Bob and Paul spent the entire race talking about everyone except the rider who is the favorite in those races. Christian on the other hand made sure he along with anyone else capable of winning was talked about. You need a play by play guy which Schlanger is.

LOL anybody but Voight . Bob is Okay when he is calling a race, he isn't such a goof. CVV is Okay. Schlanger is decent but I'd like to see GoGo, he was always great when Universal had all the RCS races.

Agree with you about Voight. I actually can't stand GoGo. He's horrible. I still have the 2014 Vuelta stage Vavlerde won by beating Sagan and almost everything GoGo said when that final climb started was completely wrong.

 

[Nacho]

LOL! Who is "GoGo". I can't place that name.