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Tour de France coverage by Versus

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Jul 22, 2009
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fulcrum said:
Here are some of my favorite moments in VS:

3- Andreu asking Andy whether he was concerned about Lance breathing down his neck and taking away 2nd place ahead of Ventoux. Andy's face really summed up what I think about VS. You could see him going through this line of thought: "are you freaking serious? This guy has no fucking idea of cycling. oh, he is AMERICAN tv. Ok, ok, what do I say so I don't sound like I'm dismissing this asshole..." after a long pause and a deep breath he says... "I think Lance should be worried about me, not the other way around."

That was priceless. The bias isn't just with Versus. I was reading the NY Times online and the frontpage has a photo of Contador on the prodium with the headline: Contador Wins, but So Does Armstrong. The first 6 or 7 paragraphs are all about Lance. What can you do. He's a huge celebrity, he's American, he's an historic champion, the American media is going to promote him every which way they can.
 
Jul 23, 2009
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dienekes88 said:
Yes, they were annoyingly fixated on Armstrong. However, I don't think they were anti-Contador.

VS certainly gave Contador credit for being the strongest rider in the race. But Phil crossed the line at the end when he said that Contador lacked the intelligence to build a TDF winning team. Just because Contador's victories have come when he rode for Brunyeel, we cannot predict that he cannot win with another DS or new teammates. Phil went off his meds before he made that comment.
 
Jul 7, 2009
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Do any North American posters on here know if Vs will cover The Vuelta on a daily basis? It seems that they only cover the TdF when Armstrong is in it.
As to how Versus did, poor coverage is better than no coverage. I suppose I will have to search the interweb and have a go at online coverage from a European outlet. As to the nonstop Lance love fest, I'm glad to say this Tour is over. There are other American riders they can interview. That is my biggest complaint about the 2009 edition. Lance, all Lance, all the daggone time.
I am fully aware that had Armstrong not returned this year, I'm sure all we would have got would be their 1 hour show on Sunday evening. Surely the Vs producers can figure a way to cover up and coming North American riders.
 
Jul 7, 2009
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fulcrum said:
Here are some of my favorite moments in VS:





3- Andreu asking Andy whether he was concerned about Lance breathing down his neck and taking away 2nd place ahead of Ventoux. Andy's face really summed up what I think about VS. You could see him going through this line of thought: "are you freaking serious? This guy has no fucking idea of cycling. oh, he is AMERICAN tv. Ok, ok, what do I say so I don't sound like I'm dismissing this asshole..." after a long pause and a deep breath he says... "I think Lance should be worried about me, not the other way around."

That's funny! I'm sorry I missed that interview!
 
Jun 14, 2009
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benpounder said:
As if it is different in every other country. Or are you suggesting Jamaicans really followed Bobsleding before 1988?

I've watched the Dauphine, a couple classics and a third of the Giro this year in Europe. What's different?

1) Many fewer commercials
2) An ability to follow the race without tying it all to one rider
3) An almost complete absence of "special features" and "human interest"

Sure, everyone loves their local story. Yes, the coverage in European countries is also biased. And even in Europe Lance dominates coverage of any race he enters (at least more than any other rider.) But they still cover the SPORT, not just a rider or team.
I understand Versus' focus on Lance, US teams and also other anglophone riders. That's the market. But I also expect to hear about the sport in a way that allows the casual follower to learn to love it even when Lance is gone (and allows a fan to catch up on what's happening outside the celebrity bubble.)
 
Jul 23, 2009
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Señor_Contador said:
Well, Universal, a US cable channel, carried the Giro this year. Live and free of cost too. RAI also carried the Giro. As far as the Tour goes... Next year I'm getting that French channel for a couple of months and watch the French version. With a little luck I'll even learn some French.


Universal carried to Giro live here but not where I lived - I used to understand a little French but not most of their cycling language - what I saw of the Giro on the internet was OK but not to the standards (from a camera viewpoint) to what VS has presented this year in the Tour.
 
Jun 14, 2009
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CentralCaliBike said:
Universal carried to Giro live here but not where I lived - I used to understand a little French but not most of their cycling language - what I saw of the Giro on the internet was OK but not to the standards (from a camera viewpoint) to what VS has presented this year in the Tour.

Versus doesn't do the camera work. All the racing feed is from the European coverage. If Universal carried the Tour they'd have the exact same camera work. Likewise if Versus carried the Giro.
 
Jun 29, 2009
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Thanks for the perspective. What did Haussler do? And pity Fignon... :(
ThisFrenchGuy said:
Reading all this makes me feel better as a French being stuck with French broadcasting, although I must admit the TdF is actually one of the better sports broadcast here, if you avoid the pre and post stage talk (Hosted by Gerard Holtz, this guy make me cringe).

They are still a tad too self-complacent (TdF is great, more and more people watching us, yadda yadda), but Fignon and Jalabert (on the bike) hindsight is pretty good. They had some strange gripes this year (they went on at least once every day on how Haussler is not very well liked in the peloton), but are good natured and sympathetic. Stance on doping is a tad forced off but better than nothing I guess.
If you except the sad part today where Fignon cried after the other commentators spoke 15mn about cancer, I would say their coverage was good.

Only annoying thing is the habit to cut off end of stages to go straight to post-stage show and not seeing the grupetto (autobus) or Van Hummel cross the line (they could show it in the post show BTW, that's how they used to). Worst was when President Sarkozy was on tour and that they interviewed him (at the same spot they use for riders) for 7 or 10mn around meaningless chat ("you love cyclism" "yeah I do", etc...) on stage 16 or 17. We didn't get to see who arrived beyond the 10-15 first riders and what were the gaps.

Sorry for the digression, but maybe some will appreciate the perspective.
 
Jul 22, 2009
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knewcleardaze said:
Do any North American posters on here know if Vs will cover The Vuelta on a daily basis? It seems that they only cover the TdF when Armstrong is in it.
As to how Versus did, poor coverage is better than no coverage. I suppose I will have to search the interweb and have a go at online coverage from a European outlet. As to the nonstop Lance love fest, I'm glad to say this Tour is over. There are other American riders they can interview. That is my biggest complaint about the 2009 edition. Lance, all Lance, all the daggone time.
I am fully aware that had Armstrong not returned this year, I'm sure all we would have got would be their 1 hour show on Sunday evening. Surely the Vs producers can figure a way to cover up and coming North American riders.
No daily coverage of the Vuelta on Versus. Check out Universal, their Giro coverage was pretty good this year.

BTW, OLN/Versus had daily live coverage of TdF the 3 years without Armstrong.
 
Focus came on Haussler with his stage win. According to what Fignon & Adam heard from the peloton, Haussler is kind of a loner and not very well-liked, hinted he was maybe not the best of partner/domestique and somewhat self centered. After that, they often joked at this, when he was going back to the car to get some water or seen near Thor today.

Nothing too serious, but they kept grinding this a bit too long for my taste.

EDIT: They also said he was talented, had a great season this year, but that his rep could play tricks on him.
 
I think the problem with Versus is that is a bad product on numerous levels. In many instances I would describe it as near unwatchable for a fan of the sport.

I suspect that somewhere deep in the bowels of Vesus headquarters a meeting took place where the marketroids and programming directors concluded that they cannot bring in viewers by covering cycling itself. They appear to have decided to cover cycling while doing as little actual racing coverage as possible, stuffing in as much non-racing content as they can into the broadcast.

I think you can see this with the large number of animations that the channel employs. These range from promos for the coverage itself (even as you are watching the show) to video montages to graphical transitions. They are moving eye candy. In fact, much of the broadcast could be described as eye candy. The interviews are often so short that it is hard to think that their purpose is actually to obtain information; they can be thought of as a tidbit of content in a Michael Bay-like editing technique as the coverage quickly leaps from one thing to another and then on to another.

A case in point is the in-car shots of DSes talking on the radio. The channel would often cut away from the racing to fill the entire screen with Garmin's Matt White telling his riders something fairly useless. The obvious question is why they would take up the whole screen when they could put White in a small window in a corner. They could have just used a small bottom graphic telling you that the voice you are listening to is White, possibly with intro and exit comments by P&P. I think the reason why they go to the full screen is that they intentionally want to switch away from the racing in an attempt to keep the interest of those who do not want to watch continuous views of riders actually riding bikes.

Essentially Versus has been broadcasting cycling coverage designed for people who do not like cycling.
 
Jun 14, 2009
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BroDeal said:
Essentially Versus has been broadcasting cycling coverage designed for people who do not like cycling.

This nails it, Bro. But isn't that just incredibly short-sighted? Wouldn't it be smarter to fill the space with something that would get people to latch onto the cycling?
For all the idiocy of P&P and Bobke I think they actually do like cycling. But they are clearly directed in a manner that drives them to act as they disdain it.
 
Jul 9, 2009
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Se&#241 said:
They sound like cycling nazis with a microphone. And they're not even American for peace sake! What the hell is wrong with them?!

Cheers.

Just using a piece of the quote for brevity's sake, but I agree 110% with the whole post. (Hey, don't think that one was used by any of the Vs commentators :D)

A huge problem with their show: it's giving the typical American who is not a cycling fan something to watch by focusing on Lance Armstrong and virtually ignoring everyone else most of the time.

The moment Armstrong stops cycling, these "fans" are gone, back to football, basketball and the other "American" sports. What these guys should've been doing is cultivating an interest in the sport and its other competitors, so that maybe when Armstrong retires, there are fans out there who want to see somebody they've "got to know" while Armstrong was riding. But, maybe that's faulty logic and Americans are only watching because it's a possibility that one of their own will be able to "kick a$$" ?? Some of the accompanying comments on other websites do indicate that.
 
Jun 18, 2009
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knewcleardaze said:
Do any North American posters on here know if Vs will cover The Vuelta on a daily basis? It seems that they only cover the TdF when Armstrong is in it.
As to how Versus did, poor coverage is better than no coverage. I suppose I will have to search the interweb and have a go at online coverage from a European outlet. As to the nonstop Lance love fest, I'm glad to say this Tour is over. There are other American riders they can interview. That is my biggest complaint about the 2009 edition. Lance, all Lance, all the daggone time.
I am fully aware that had Armstrong not returned this year, I'm sure all we would have got would be their 1 hour show on Sunday evening. Surely the Vs producers can figure a way to cover up and coming North American riders.

No, Try cycling.tv. Costs a bit, but the coverage is good IMO.
 
RigelKent said:
This nails it, Bro. But isn't that just incredibly short-sighted? Wouldn't it be smarter to fill the space with something that would get people to latch onto the cycling?

Short sighted? Maybe. But "latching people" would be way more difficult, one could argue impossible, given the cultural differences in Europe and the USA about the sport. Too much of an investment. LA is a good story, puts a face on the thing. At best they hope that someone or something else will catch the audience beyond just Armstrong. Kind of random.
 
Jun 18, 2009
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Ligget insulted all of us with his comment about Contador during the post race segment.

He also stated that Contador somehow had it easy. I'm thinking what?

Contador fought two battles. One on the road and one in the hotel. He had to deal with LA's backstabbing and Bruyneel's favoritism.

Contador showed he as mentally tough as they come. Think how Cadel would have crumbled under LA's media blitz.

Contador knew the only thing that mattered happened on the road - Astana be damned.

Good luck next year LA, you're gonna need it.
 
Jesus, I'm relieved to see that I wasn't alone on this one, what a disgrace, it's understandable if they want to talk about american riders because i'ts an american channel, I really have no beef in it, however to dismiss the yellow jersey, to take such a blinded side is sickening, you should see how proffesional it sounds at the Giro in the RAI channel, where you clearly see favouritism for the italian riders (italian channel) but they talk about and respected the pink jersey last year with AC and this year with Dennis, Mauro ( the broadcaster) is a true professional, If you see La Vuelta, on TVEI Channel, again you see favouritism with spanish riders but they respect the golden jersey, I saw it when Dennis won in 07 and they trully gave the man his props, Screw Versus I'm done with them.
 
Mar 10, 2009
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richwagmn said:
Ligget insulted all of us with his comment about Contador
Really. He insulted us all? Even those of us who werent insulted?

If one were prone to being insulted, I'd think they would be insulted by someone presuming to speak for them. All of us?
 
Jul 22, 2009
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benpounder said:
Really. He insulted us all? Even those of us who werent insulted?

If one were prone to being insulted, I'd think they would be insulted by someone presuming to speak for them. All of us?

If the guy has worms or another parasite, he usage would be correct.
 
Mar 10, 2009
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RigelKent said:
I've watched the Dauphine, a couple classics and a third of the Giro this year in Europe. What's different?

1) Many fewer commercials
2) An ability to follow the race without tying it all to one rider
3) An almost complete absence of "special features" and "human interest"

Sure, everyone loves their local story. Yes, the coverage in European countries is also biased. And even in Europe Lance dominates coverage of any race he enters (at least more than any other rider.) But they still cover the SPORT, not just a rider or team.
I understand Versus' focus on Lance, US teams and also other anglophone riders. That's the market. But I also expect to hear about the sport in a way that allows the casual follower to learn to love it even when Lance is gone (and allows a fan to catch up on what's happening outside the celebrity bubble.)


I watched a bit more races ranging from a host of networks. Yes there were fewer commercials, but what I saw was internet coverage. And many of those networks receive government support.

As another poster mentioned, many of these networks tied coverage to LA, so it is not just an American thing.

Third, when you are covering a sport, you always put in the special features and human interest stories, irrespective of network.

In the US, networks are entirely for profit. That means if they don’t get the viewership, they can not sell advertisments. If they can not sell addvertisments, they do not cover the costs. If they can not cover the costs, they will not continue the broadcasts. Verses numbers for the TdF were up 50% over last year. Obviously they are doing well with the format, and why the hell should they change just because several of us enjoy the esoteric aspects of cycling?

There is an unsavory aspect of devotees of any endeavor, an arrogance of presumed authority, an arrogance of perceived superiority. It is very off-putting to the enthusiastic neophyte. And it is resplendently displayed within this forum.

I don’t like Verses. I don’t like Bob Roll's fawning at Lance Armstrong. I don’t like how Craig Hummer seems to speak in capital letters. I don’t like how Phil never seems to be paying attention to the actual race. But I like that I can watch the race in the comfort of my living room rather than sitting in my office, or glued to my laptop. And having seen live coverage in Europe, there is no way that I'm going to say that what Verses broadcasts is worse just because it is an American outfit. They all suck in particular ways. But If I can watch without little effort, I'll not be biting too hard the hand that provides.

FWIW, I couldn’t tell what you meant from the context, but it is either anglophobe or anglophile.
 
Jul 22, 2009
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benpounder said:
There is an unsavory aspect of devotees of any endeavor, an arrogance of presumed authority, an arrogance of perceived superiority. It is very off-putting to the enthusiastic neophyte. And it is resplendently displayed within this forum.

:eek:


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