What's the deal with cycling on TV in the US?

[Wrecktangle]

I now see that Versus has been absorbed into the NBC sports "combine" and that apparently USN is not broadcasting everything that Versus wasn't. Looks like (another) raw deal for us as last year was great as I got to watch more cycling than ever before.

Does anyone know what's going on?

Apologies if this is covered somewhere else, but in my quick perusal of threads, it didn't jump out at me.

 

[Boardslide]

I now see that Versus has been absorbed into the NBC sports "combine" and that apparently USN is not broadcasting everything that Versus wasn't. Looks like (another) raw deal for us as last year was great as I got to watch more cycling than ever before.

Does anyone know what's going on?

Apologies if this is covered somewhere else, but in my quick perusal of threads, it didn't jump out at me.

Here's something for you to look forward to, from TJV's twitter

"versus will air daily coverage of paris-nice 3/6-3/13 at 4pm et for the first time ever in true HD. http://bit.ly/gRZl4m spread the word!"

 

[Angliru]

It's the worst thing that could've happened to viewing cycling on TV in the U.S. Versus can now continue on with their usual limited schedule, where before we had Universal to offer us many of the events and then some that Versus deemed not worth squeezing into their program of fishing, bullriding, hockey and whatever else they fill their airtime. For me it's pretty sad. I won't mention the veteran hosts of their cycling telecasts and their annoying idiosyncrasies and biases.

 

[Altitude]

Wait, no more cycling on Universal Sports? When did this happen?

 

[quadsRme]

online premium pass

USN is offering a Premium Pass for ~35 to view live cycling on-line , U.S. only.
It's better than nothing.

 

[ergmonkey]

Why not just watch the Flemish internet stream of EVERY bike race on the calendar?

(steephill.tv)

Side benefit: if you speak any Germanic language besides English, you'll start to pick up some Flemish pretty quickly. Also, the commentator's enthusiasm is contagious.

 

[The Gnome]

I didnt know that Universal was not still doing the Giro and the Vuelta...if that is so too bad and versus is pretty bad all around...and cyclingtv, which I subscribed to for a few years, has completely blown it's nut...another idea, which I did this weekend, was to wait til sunday night and download kuurne and het nieuws in full torrents of hd from cyclingtorrents.nl...they put everything up pretty quickly and are a good bunch of folks doing good work...

 

[GoGarmin]

I'm confused.

Is Universal Sports no longer broadcasting the Giro, Vuelta and Worlds online like it did last year? It's Web site suggests otherwise, and I paid for an annual subscription about a month ago. It was a bargain at $30, I felt, for on-demand video that was of good quality and highly reliable.

http://www.universalsports.com/cycling/index.html

 

[md2020]

I now see that Versus has been absorbed into the NBC sports "combine" and that apparently USN is not broadcasting everything that Versus wasn't. Looks like (another) raw deal for us as last year was great as I got to watch more cycling than ever before.

Does anyone know what's going on?

Apologies if this is covered somewhere else, but in my quick perusal of threads, it didn't jump out at me.

Seems like we're screwed. After watching the end of K-B-K on-line last weekend I was psyched up for the upcoming spring races and went to check the TV listings only to find that Milan-San Remo and the Tour of Flanders are nowhere to be found.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Why not just watch the Flemish internet stream of EVERY bike race on the calendar?

(steephill.tv)

Side benefit: if you speak any Germanic language besides English, you'll start to pick up some Flemish pretty quickly. Also, the commentator's enthusiasm is contagious.

there's no such thing as flemish. it's called dutch.

 

[L'arriviste]

there's no such thing as flemish. it's called dutch.

But there are Flemish internet streams. Sadly never enough of them though.

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

But there are Flemish internet streams. Sadly never enough of them though.

yes and they are in dutch

 

[El Pistolero]

yes and they are in dutch

Yeah, I hate it when people call it Flemish. And I'm Flemish.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5CaRWfH9e0

^ If you really want to hear some Flemish dialects, that's mine although I can also speak normal.

 

[ergmonkey]

Dear All,

please forgive me for encouraging you to pick up some "Flemish," a widely recognized dialect of Dutch, a real language. While we're at it, please remember that Thor Hushovd and Edvald Boasson Hagen don't actually speak Norwegian--they just speak a silly dialect of Danish.
P.S. They should all take pay cuts and ride for Saxo Bank.

 

[CatsNK]

?? I saw an ad the other day on Universal about their cycling coverage for 2011. Where does it say they aren't covering the Vuelta and Giro?

 

[jaylew]

I think some people may be confusing USN's tv coverage with it's online coverage.

 

[fatandfast]

Why not just watch the Flemish internet stream of EVERY bike race on the calendar?

(steephill.tv)

Side benefit: if you speak any Germanic language besides English, you'll start to pick up some Flemish pretty quickly. Also, the commentator's enthusiasm is contagious.

lots of the streams are restricted..I only wish we could get every race.

The only thing a Belgian hates more than being called Dutch is being called German.

hokefurdome...I know the spelling

 

[analo69]

for 10 dolalrs a month you can get a VPN.

I hve heard only good things about overplay.net, but not tried it for myself.

With that service you can watch everything, even though it is georestricted.

 

[joy118118]

lots of the streams are restricted..I only wish we could get every race.

The only thing a Belgian hates more than being called Dutch is being called German.

hokefurdome...I know the spelling

all the big races were able to be watched. if it is available on Sporza, there is always a stream working. Cant expect more.

 

[joy118118]

for 10 dolalrs a month you can get a VPN.

I hve heard only good things about overplay.net, but not tried it for myself.

With that service you can watch everything, even though it is georestricted.

for rai you have to get a Italia IP, for RTBF a belgian IP, for some Franch races a France IP.

A bit too more to afford.

 

[Gotland]

for rai you have to get a Italia IP, for RTBF a belgian IP, for some Franch races a France IP.

A bit too more to afford.

From there FAQ:
Quite a few! We are constantly expanding our Server Locations, so be sure to check back (or check our blog) for the latest additions. Currently we have VPN servers in the following 31 countries: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and the USA.

So you can watch the most of cycling that are geo rest.

 

[Wrecktangle]

Thanks all. I'd seen the pay site at USN, but would rather have it on the big screen TV. I guess I could lash a PC to it, but there are some complications with the cable box I have.

On Versus, do we know if our "standard" cycling hosts are going to be presenting? The chopped up tour of Qatar and Oman broadcasts had some new guy on, not that he was bad. I did enjoy the HD views of the country, but we had those last year, no?

 

[CatsNK]

Why is everyone freaking out? Wrong information!

I just asked USN on Facebook and here is their response:

Yes, we are broadcasting both races. We start our cycling coverage with Tirreno-Adriatico next week.

 

[Wrecktangle]

Why is everyone freaking out? Wrong information!

I just asked USN on Facebook and here is their response:

Yes, we are broadcasting both races. We start our cycling coverage with Tirreno-Adriatico next week.

Cool. Is it in HD?

 

[nickel999]

all the big races were able to be watched. if it is available on Sporza, there is always a stream working. Cant expect more.

In many ways living here on the east coast USA, I often thought I would pay for a subscription to just Sporza since they do most/all of the spring classic races.

In addition, do they ever show archives of past races to fill time on their sports schedule (i.e, ESPN) ?