With what looks like an interesting Tour of Germany developing, I decided to check OLN’s cycling coverage to determine when they would be showing some highlights. Unfortunately, it seems that with Lance Armstrong’s retirement, OLN’s cycling coverage has essentially disappeared, save for 30 minutes of the Nature Valley Grand Prix next month -- no Cyclism Sunday, Tour of Germany, Vuelta or World Championships.
While I am not surprised, I am angered by OLN’s marketing during spring emphasizing how vital cycling coverage was to OLN, while concurrently reducing cycling coverage to effectively nothing. I have great concerns regarding next year’s Tour de France. Certainly, we cannot expect the kind of coverage provided during the Lance Armstrong years and it is possible daily coverage might disappear.
When OLN was a startup, before Lance Armstrong was a household name, it provided exemplary cycling coverage. I upgraded to cable service specifically to receive OLN for its cycling coverage, but I eventually came to watch some of their other quirky but interesting shows, because there was something genuine about them.
Now OLN has grown to include many of the worst aspects of American media, being full of commercialism, violence and reality programming, some of which only being very loosely connected to the channel's theme -- “All Star BBQ Showdown” anyone?
OLN and Cycling
...not much more interest in cycling. the next tour is going to be a bunch of could-have-been guys going for what crumbs lance left behind. bull riding anyone?
;)
don
"Anyone who thinks that the departure of Armstrong from the Tour means it will not be interesting was watching like an amateur. For professional road racing junkies, the possibilities are endless. Will Ulrich finally ""do it"" again before he retires, or will Vino become the top contender as Captain of his new team? Who will end up heading Discovery, and what kind of a show will he and the team make? Will Basso skip the Giro & make his move on the next Tour? Will Rasmussen learn how to time trial? And what will Boonen, Valverde and Landis do? I can't wait to find out. I'm assuming that if OLN forgets where it came from, that the Discovery Channel will back up its investment & at least cover the Tour every evening."
"""I'm assuming that if OLN forgets where it came from, that the Discovery Channel will back up its investment & at least cover the Tour every evening.""
I hope this is true. It may already be in the works -- OLN gracefully bows out of cycling with coverage to be picked up by Discovery Channel.
"
I could be wrong, but doesn't Discovery Channel broadcast internationally? (And hence the appeal of sponsoring a team). If so, the viewer base for watching cycling races could be expanded greatly to include other English speaking countries. I'm sure the UK and Australia would welcome listening to someone speaking their native tongue, Phil and Paul.
A simple idea, but I'm sure there's alot more to it than that. I have no idea what the commitments are and what not.
...about 99.99% of the viewing public. cycling had it's 15 minutes (or, thanks to lance, 105 minutes). time for the broadcast channels go move on to the next sport.
don
if you think their cycling coverage now is bad, just wait. oln (comcast) is paying the nhl $135 million over the next two years to broadcast the nhl. there goes the money to send al and bob to france for three weeks.
in july oln offered a live tdf webcast for $6. that's the future of cycling coverage, my friend. pay-as-you-go broadband access.
...that the advertisers pulled out, making coverage unprofitable?
Yes, of course it's terrible news.
