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What is cycling TV coverage like where you live?

May 6, 2009
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I'm not taking into account online streams. ATM I have cable TV, and recently we got Eurosport, and it has done wonders for my viewing of races that SBS won/can't show. They have done Tour of Qatar, Paris - Nice, T - A, MSR, and then the last four hours live of the RVV, and they will be covering Roubaix. I quite enjoy watching the Eurosport coverage, because even though they mentioned Lance's name a few times in the RVV coverage, it wasn't Phil Liggert and Paul Sherwin commentating, and not like how they do it every five minutes, as if it is a contractual obligation.

SBS here do the TDU, where the last two stages live, various European races and have 1 hour highlights of either stage or one day races. They show 20 minute highlights of stages of the Giro and the Vuelta, and every stage of the Tour live. But this year they have grabbed live coverage of a stage at the Tour of California (facepalm.jpg).

Eurosport will cover the Giro, the Ardennes Classics, the TOC, TdF, and the Vuelta.

Cable TV FTW.
 
Sucks. I could get Versus and some golf channels for $20 more/month. But Versus is rather lame and for Flanders...they didn't air until 5 pm local time...about 7 hours after the race was over.

I'm better off finding online feeds.
 
Mar 13, 2009
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I'm an aussie, but don't have cable...tried to find a bar with eurosport yesterday...no dice, live steams will keep me going, I think Paris roubaix is on SBS live this year.
 
Moose McKnuckles said:
I never watch Versus anymore. That channel is absolute garbage. I check cyclingfans.com for the feeds.

Ayup. Versus is garbage. After watching a feed in the morning there is no reason to subject one's self to the Ligget and Sherwen LA backside kissing contest. I can only imagine how awful coverage of Flanders must have been.
 
Nov 14, 2009
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I live in California, and all I have is versus and universal sports..
versus is not the best I must say. Versus shows some one day races, not live. Universal sports showed M-SR and will show the tour de basque.
I used to live in the Netherlands, and no other country's cycling coverage compares to any country in Europe. Europe has great coverage, I really miss it :(
 
BroDeal said:
Ayup. Versus is garbage. After watching a feed in the morning there is no reason to subject one's self to the Ligget and Sherwen LA backside kissing contest. I can only imagine how awful coverage of Flanders must have been.

It was ok, the usual Lance praising and noting how he's riding at the front because he can win (just before the camera shows him at the back on a climb). I almost lost it though because they were showing a Lance pre-race interview and eventually split screened the interview with the race. The timing was amazing right at the beginning of the Koppenberg! So when the break hit the Koppenberg the coverage was split screened to show a Lance interview :mad:
 
Jul 11, 2009
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My coverage just got a lot better.....I just got a big ass LED monitor. Free to air cycling in Aus is a mix of rabid Nutlord and rabid Bum chin fanboys. Sort of like being stuck in between Auscyclefan and BPC..........:eek:
 
May 6, 2009
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Question for those in America: Does Lance if he is racing or not (or when he retired in 2005) have any impact on TV coverage? Roubaix got shown live the year after O'Grady won Roubaix.
 
I´m in Spain and on this side of the Atlantic there is more coverage than you could ever imagine. Besides live which can be anywhere from the last hour of a race to two or three as it was yesterday with Flanders, there is an hour or so of repeat both late the same night and then again early the next morning and sometimes again during the week. If any such race is won by a Spanish rider, there will be many more repeats during the week and even throughout the season.

Having said that and without complaining, cycling is a distant second to football (soccer), which dominates all sports channels here (including CNN)as if there are no others. It can take an eternity to wait through the football coverage before they get to the other less important sports; golf, tennis, rugby, basketball and finally cycling.

Oh yeah, most of the coverage is in Spanish (unless it´s on Eurosport 2), but that´s cool. The commentators definitely know their stuff and for the big races you´ll sometimes have Pedro Delgado among others.
 
May 6, 2009
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I was in Barcelona a few years ago, and there was no live coverage of the Vuelta which had just started in Vigo, although I got to see the replay of the stage as I had dinner in a restaurant.

But yeah, wrt to football, at my hostel, the guy that worked there, put the match on every night (which was fine since I love soccer).
 
Jun 26, 2009
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I'm in Melbourne, Australia. SBS is the best thing that ever happened for cycling in Aus even though it is obsessed with soccer. If you can get Eurosport on cable you wont do better. For those who dont like the Ligget and Sherwin show get over yourselves. Phil Ligget is arguably the most awarded cycling commentator in the history of the sport and while Paul Sherwin may not have been a superstar, he was a more than capable professional and unlike most pro cyclists is quite well educated. Armstrong is what he is and as cycling commentators go you wont get much better than these two for relaying what is happening to an English speaking audience that is by and large ignorant to the finer details of the sport.
 
May 6, 2009
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I don't mind Phil and Paul, but when they keep mentioning about how LA's return to the sport was to "raise cancer awareness" (their words not mine) every five km's, then it does get a bit annoying. I had been watching the race for the last three weeks, you would think I would have known that by now.
 
Mar 27, 2010
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I live in the Netherlands, and the big races are all broadcasted live here by our national broadcasting station (NOS) and Eurosport. But we also have the belgians on our cable so I can watch as good as every single race live on the tv.
 
Mar 11, 2009
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I get Sporza, Eurosport and Eurosport 2 on digital-TV(?). That covers most races.
Now I'm watching Rund um Koln on WDR. There's are old races sometimes on ESPN Classic.
Sporza has documentaries on cycling/cyclists sometimes, Dutch and Belgian TV have special evening programs during the TDF....It's very very good here.
 
Jul 11, 2009
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ak-zaaf said:
I get Sporza, Eurosport and Eurosport 2 on digital-TV(?). That covers most races.
Now I'm watching Rund um Koln on WDR. There's are old races sometimes on ESPN Classic.
Sporza has documentaries on cycling/cyclists sometimes, Dutch and Belgian TV have special evening programs during the TDF....It's very very good here.

I kinda hate you a little right now......... I can watch Football, Football (AFL) Football (Rugby Union) Football (More Rugby) or Football (american).
 
ak-zaaf said:
I get Sporza, Eurosport and Eurosport 2 on digital-TV(?). That covers most races.
Now I'm watching Rund um Koln on WDR. There's are old races sometimes on ESPN Classic.
Sporza has documentaries on cycling/cyclists sometimes, Dutch and Belgian TV have special evening programs during the TDF....It's very very good here.

I'm watching Koln, too. Obviously, as I posted earlier!:eek:
Also watched Rai Piu, this morning. Re-running the whole of Flanders. Before that, a documentary on Coppi's Giros.....

Oh, btw: Has your Eurosport version got Pais Vasco, live?
Don't know what's happened to the British version, but it's gone cycling mad, since the return of the old fart and the arrival of Sky.
I never thought that Basque Country would return, but it has.
Masses of the Tour of Turkey, next week, hopefully in full HD.:)
 

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