cycling.tv getting a pasting

vermooten
vermooten Posts: 2,697
edited May 2008 in Pro race
From CFA:
Competitive Cyclist hates Cycling.tv so much that they have pulled all their advertising off the site: "We used to be a sponsor of cycling.tv. In the past we paid some serious cash -- about the same as what we pay for a month of advertising on cyclingnews.com -- in order to sponsor the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix live coverage. NEVER AGAIN. At least not until their site evolves past its current circa-1999 state. I must ask, what value do Speedplay, Cervélo, Cannondale, and their other few current sponsors believe they derive from this?" Meanwhile, the shady practices of the Cycling.tv billing department are arousing the serious ire of the Weight Weenies forum, whose readers have decided that cycling.tv is engaged in blatant fraud.
Is cycling.tv still still going? I let my subscription lapse.

I know, I know, this is a tired topic - but if one person saves their dosh by reading this, then it's worth a bit of repetition.
You just have to ride like you never have to breathe again.

Manchester Wheelers

Comments

  • campagone
    campagone Posts: 270
    Still going, and in my opinion going quite strong. I came home today from my ride and watched
    the last 45k of the Tour of Romandie live.
    Cycling.tv comes in for a lot of stick, but where else could I watch the race live and get to watch the whole live coverage again as live if I want?
    It's certainly better than watching highlights a week or more later on ITV 4. :wink:
  • donrhummy
    donrhummy Posts: 2,329
    campagone wrote:
    Still going, and in my opinion going quite strong. I came home today from my ride and watched
    the last 45k of the Tour of Romandie live.
    Cycling.tv comes in for a lot of stick, but where else could I watch the race live and get to watch the whole live coverage again as live if I want?
    It's certainly better than watching highlights a week or more later on ITV 4. :wink:

    Just because they're the only game in town (which they paid the right to enforce) doesn't mean they're a good game. With a little competition, maybe they'd actually improve the many, many problems people have had with them.
  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    Those weight weenie people can be a bit odd. Dont weigh the bike - ride the damn thing !
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,573
    I'm still waiting for a refund on my subscription. Never again will I give money to these crooks.
  • vermooten
    vermooten Posts: 2,697
    cougie wrote:
    Those weight weenie people can be a bit odd. Dont weigh the bike - ride the damn thing !
    I dunno - Adam Hansen's a regular contributor, he's been known to ride the damn thing from time to time.
    You just have to ride like you never have to breathe again.

    Manchester Wheelers
  • wasp707
    wasp707 Posts: 116
    Cycling.tv comes in for a lot of stick, but where else could I watch the race live and get to watch the whole live coverage again as live if I want?


    Try www1.myp2p.eu/

    You can watch loads of cycling through here as they have links to broadcasts all round the world.
  • andrewgturnbull
    andrewgturnbull Posts: 3,861
    wasp707 wrote:
    Cycling.tv comes in for a lot of stick, but where else could I watch the race live and get to watch the whole live coverage again as live if I want?


    Try www1.myp2p.eu/

    You can watch loads of cycling through here as they have links to broadcasts all round the world.

    Cycling.tv comes in for a lot of stick, but where else could I legally watch the race live and get to watch the whole live coverage again as live if I want?
    http://www.andyturnbull.co.uk
    http://www.stirlingtri.co.uk
  • mdg1157
    mdg1157 Posts: 222
    I contacted them last week to ask why their website is so awkward to use, got a reply , which totally baffled me ,didn't answer anything!! They said, something along the lines of '' log on , close the second window, right click the first window, click the video, close the second window''......................oh my g*d!!!! all I want to do is log on , click the item I want to see and watch it!!!
    Puts me off watching a lot !
  • deltadawn
    deltadawn Posts: 168
    andrewgturnbull wrote:
    wasp707 wrote:
    Cycling.tv comes in for a lot of stick, but where else could I watch the race live and get to watch the whole live coverage again as live if I want?


    Try www1.myp2p.eu/

    You can watch loads of cycling through here as they have links to broadcasts all round the world.

    Cycling.tv comes in for a lot of stick, but where else could I legally watch the race live and get to watch the whole live coverage again as live if I want?

    http://www.cyclingfans.com/

    I know they also link to cycling.tv but they also show live coverage from other sources and for all the races.
  • campagone
    campagone Posts: 270
    The thing is though is that I'm with Tiscali, and they've got this download filtering/blocking thing (I don't know what its called!) which prevents us downloading torrent files and from p2p networks (until after midnight at least) so I'm stuck with cycling tv.
  • andrewgturnbull
    andrewgturnbull Posts: 3,861
    campagone wrote:
    The thing is though is that I'm with Tiscali, and they've got this download filtering/blocking thing (I don't know what its called!) which prevents us downloading torrent files and from p2p networks (until after midnight at least) so I'm stuck with cycling tv.

    Hi there.

    Here's how the sport works (in my mind at least):

    TV companies pay race oragnisers to cover events (usually). Race organisers pay the the teams in appearance fees and prizes. Teams pay riders in salaries and bonuses.

    Now without you or the advertisers paying the TV companies to watch the programmes where does the money come from? Oh, and you don't get any points for watching advertising in foreign languages for products that you can't buy.

    Cheers, Andy
    http://www.andyturnbull.co.uk
    http://www.stirlingtri.co.uk
  • redddraggon
    redddraggon Posts: 10,862
    andrewgturnbull - Eurosport have the rights to show most of the races - but they don't show as much of them as they should. Some of us pay for Eurosport and still don't get the coverage we are paying for, so what's wrong with finding an alternative source to watch the races? OK, so it might not be 100% legit, but if Eurosport won't show the races they have the rights to (cycling.tv doesn't always have the rights either), what else can we do>?
    I like bikes...

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  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,573
    andrewgturnbull wrote:

    Here's how the sport works (in my mind at least):

    TV companies pay race oragnisers to cover events (usually). Race organisers pay the the teams in appearance fees and prizes. Teams pay riders in salaries and bonuses.

    Now without you or the advertisers paying the TV companies to watch the programmes where does the money come from? Oh, and you don't get any points for watching advertising in foreign languages for products that you can't buy.
    TV companies also negotiate the rights to stream their coverage on the internet to either attract more sponsorship or shore up their existing revenue streams. Most internet streams these days are perfectly legitimate.

    Cycling.tv were first to market so charge a premium but their business model is under threat due to the incumbent broadcasters having an internet strategy now.
  • squired
    squired Posts: 1,153
    For me, cycling.tv is a business model that started as an interesting idea, but simply hasn't developed. The current website is shocking. The annual fees keep going up. Most races happen when a large percentage of potential European customers are at work. Thus it is important for highlights to be up by the time they get home from work. Also, an audio only stream of race coverage would be excellent for those of us who might be able to access coverage, but not have video running in the office (I did suggest this by email a while ago, but never got a response).
  • drenkrom
    drenkrom Posts: 1,062
    If a company will not provide me with a service I am completely ready to pay for and I have the technological means of providing it for myself, albeit while circumventing certain laws, I have no ethical qualms about doing so. And if somebody should care about "piracy", it's me, as I work as a sound engineer in media production. It's my money we're talking about here. But if there is a gaping hole in the service, or the service you pay for is obviously inadequate, as I find cycling.tv to be, then go and plug that hole yourself. The tools are all there.

    For instance, there is zero cycling coverage on Canadian TV. It is impossible with any satellite provider to get Eurosport, NOS, ZDF or any channel that covers cycling. I have a cycling.tv membership, yet rarely use it as there is no such thing as server stability and, when the servers are up, the bandwidth is reminiscent of 1998. So I stream from other sources and download the torrents for my collection. Of course, bandwidth is a much cheaper commodity this side of the ocean.
  • OllyBianchi
    OllyBianchi Posts: 89
    andyp wrote:
    andrewgturnbull wrote:

    Here's how the sport works (in my mind at least):

    TV companies pay race oragnisers to cover events (usually).

    The (usually) in the important thing here - I know that the now defunct Champ Car championship was paying broadcasters in Europe to show its events to try and attract sponsors - I'll wager that much of Eurosport 2's output is either free or stuff which they are being paid to broadcast.
  • andrewgturnbull
    andrewgturnbull Posts: 3,861
    Hi folks.

    I see everyone is happy to get what they want for free... I guess I could have predicted that.

    Ok let me put it another way. I don't find cycling.tv prohibitevly expensive, and am reasonably happy with their service - although their website design is shocking. My main problem is bandwith at my local loop.

    I doubt however that they are rolling in money, and I'm sure that Brian and Anthony are not living it up in 5 star hotels as they tour the world...

    It must be hard to invest in a business where everyone expects to get the product for free and is happy to steal it.

    Cheers, Andy
    http://www.andyturnbull.co.uk
    http://www.stirlingtri.co.uk
  • andrewgturnbull
    andrewgturnbull Posts: 3,861
    OllyBianchi wrote:
    andyp wrote:
    andrewgturnbull wrote:

    Here's how the sport works (in my mind at least):

    TV companies pay race oragnisers to cover events (usually).

    The (usually) in the important thing here - I know that the now defunct Champ Car championship was paying broadcasters in Europe to show its events to try and attract sponsors - I'll wager that much of Eurosport 2's output is either free or stuff which they are being paid to broadcast.

    Hi there.

    I put the (usually) in there on purpose. I know for a fact that the International Triathlon Union pays broadcasters to carry their events. However the business model is the same, it's just that the price is in negative numbers.

    As events become more popular and draw bigger audiences then the price for coverage tilts in favour of the organiser. If more people watch then the organiser will pay less to the TV company, right through the point where the price becomes positive again and the organisers get paid.

    If the TV company doesn't have the audience and can't attract advertisers then the organisers suffer, and so on down through the chain.

    But hey, if you want it free then why should you pay?

    Cheers, Andy
    http://www.andyturnbull.co.uk
    http://www.stirlingtri.co.uk
  • vermooten
    vermooten Posts: 2,697
    I'd happily pay £50 a month sub for a cycling channel on Sky Digital. Cycling.tv are so close to getting it right but, because it seems they can't be bothered with getting the detail right, they might as well not bother.

    Too busy trawling through youtube and getting them to take down cycling videos. They hate their customers.

    Regarding the economics of it all, the music industry has learned for more quickly and painfully that if there is a way of getting digital content for free, then people will find that way. It's beyond good and evil, it just is.
    You just have to ride like you never have to breathe again.

    Manchester Wheelers

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