Where to watch cycling on satellite

LukeUK

I was a member on this forum last year, but I've gone and forgotten my username :roll:. Anyway I got fed up with having to pay Sky a monthly subscription, and fed up of Cycling.TV's US only rights and their clunky interface, so I decided to see what I could get for free on Satellite. I really do think that a European satellite system is the way to go to watch cycling.

I've started up a blog, which I'll try and keep updated every time I know there is a race on Free-To-Air satellite in Europe. Check it out and if there are any questions about satellite set up just ask me.

http://cyclingonsat.wordpress.com

If anybody knows of any upcoming races that are on FTA Satellite that I haven't mentioned, please let me know.

Thanks,
Luke

andyrr

Eroica on RAI Tre - was supposed to be Rai Sport Pui These are digital.
Total change from a few days ago : might be the tail end of the race live - currently the guide shows 3:35PM - 4:10PM
http://www.rai.it/dl/portale/GuidaProgrammi.html

LukeUK

Thanks for the info

andyrr

Useful listing site :
http://www.athleticsontv.org.uk/

drewfromrisca

I'm watching it on here - http://www.tvchannelsfree.com/watch/4823/Rai-Tre.html

LukeUK

Thanks for the link Andy, I've bookmarked it and added it to the link section of the blog. Just set up a dish on a tripod to catch the run-in on Rai Tre, working a treat . Shame I didn't see the link in the last post before I dug out the spare dish...

blazing_saddles

Would have been useful. I skipped RAITRE's coverage, to record RAi Piu's (their dedicated sports channel) extended coverage, only to find they had cancelled the transmission.
Will have to make do with the Tube's 8 minutes......

.....I don't miss much on FTA sat. However, a lot of tv covearge is being bought up by ppv, each year. Biggest culprit-Sport+ in France.

LukeUK

I agree that a lot of coverage is PPV these days, although you can often find a feed for many races - take a look at http://cyclingonsat.wordpress.com/live-feeds/. The 2 sites I've mentioned are great for finding cycling feeds.

LukeUK

The Tirreno-Adriatico is going to be on Rai Tre for at least the first 3 stages according the the Rai.it TV guide. Of course there'll be coverage on Eurosport too.

Paris-Nice coverage on Eurosport is due to start at 17:20/18:20 CET today, or 17:00/18:00 CET on British Eurosport and Eurosport HD.

campagchris

Great stuff Luke
Question if you can help.How can I get ESPN (france) as they have loads of old classics on. thanks

blazing_saddles

campagchris wrote:

Great stuff Luke
Question if you can help.How can I get ESPN (france) as they have loads of old classics on. thanks

RAITRE will have all the stages live. It always does.
ESPN was great. I used to get from TPS on Hotbird, with a bit of nudge nudge wink wink....
I think it's now on Astra 1 under the Canal+ banner and is heavily encrypted.

Next up might be the E3/Brab Pijl weekend (28th-29th March) on the wonderful:-
http://www.rtbfsat.be/rtbf_2000/bin/vie ... 166857_sac
You'll find the frequencies on their friendly homepage.

Off to watch Paris-Nice on France 3 on Atlantic Bird 3 (5.0W) - 11590.00 V @20000
(along with France 2)

LukeUK

ESPN Classic Sport France (I guess this is the channel you're after) is broadcast on 19.2E, however there's no FTA version, so you'll need to get your hands on a CanalSat subscription, and a capable receiver.

This post at satellites.co.uk might be useful to you.

Hope this is helpful.

LukeUK

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Next up might be the E3/Brab Pijl weekend (28th-29th March) on the wonderful:-
http://www.rtbfsat.be/rtbf_2000/bin/vie ... 166857_sac
You'll find the frequencies on their friendly homepage.

Off to watch Paris-Nice on France 3 on Atlantic Bird 3 (5.0W) - 11590.00 V @20000
(along with France 2)

We've got the Milan- Sanremo before that on the 21st. That'll be live on Eurosport at 14:50 GMT/15:50 CET. I'll get these dates on the blog later.

jimmythecuckoo

Oh eurosport, you are so rubbish.

Bart Puss

You say on your tuning in guide that you could get Int` eurosport on a sky digi box.....assuming you would have to point the dish at 19.2E ? .

Could you confirm if that is the case... thanks.

LukeUK

Bart Puss wrote:

You say on your tuning in guide that you could get Int` eurosport on a sky digi box.....assuming you would have to point the dish at 19.2E ? .

Could you confirm if that is the case... thanks.

Well today has made things a little confusing, as the FTA Eurosport at 19.2E was showing handball instead of the Paris-Nice. Up until now I'd always found that this Eurosport followed the same programming as the other international versions.

I can confirm you can get Eurosport (Germany) on a Sky Digibox, with German audio only of course. You'll need to align your dish to 19.2E, and then in the TV Guide; go to

Services > System Setup > Add Channels.

Fill in the details for Eurosport (12226.50 H, 27500 3/4), and hit Find Channels. It will perform a search, and then you'll need to look through the list untl you see Eurosport. Press yellow to store the channel.

You'll now be able to watch the channel by going to Service > Other Channels.

hockinsk

You need an older 'analogue' Sky receiver and point a dish to 19.2E satelite to get Eurosport for free. You can then tune the audio to English commentary. Basically you need the kit Sky ripped out when going Digital.

LukeUK

hockinsk wrote:

You need an older 'analogue' Sky receiver and point a dish to 19.2E satelite to get Eurosport for free. You can then tune the audio to English commentary. Basically you need the kit Sky ripped out when going Digital.

Not if you only want Eurosport for free with German only audio. Some people aren't bothered about the commentary. If this is the case a standard Sky Digibox, or any DVB-S reciever will do the trick. Just thought I'd make it clear

hockinsk

My DigiBox from Sky in around 2006 doesn't allow other channels to be added. Pretty sure most of the new receivers also have software to stop you tuning into Eurosport Germany.

franarchy

www.cyclingfans.com

paulieb2006

Now that the SKY cycling team has been announced, i wonder do they have any plans to show some races. Hopefully not like the Tour Down Under though, that Sherwin and Liggott do my nut. Duffield and King Kelly all the way for me. If only they showed the thing when they say that they will. Dont know how many times I have Sky +d the cycling and the programme stops recording with 1k to go.

hockinsk

franarchy wrote:

www.cyclingfans.com

Pete's www.cyclingfans.com site only deals with cycling web coverage. MJ Ray over at http://www.cyclingfans.net covers all the free DVB-S 'satelite' cycling coverage you can access. Both are great sites as is http://www.steephill.tv

LukeUK

hockinsk wrote:

My DigiBox from Sky in around 2006 doesn't allow other channels to be added. Pretty sure most of the new receivers also have software to stop you tuning into Eurosport Germany.

Hmm, admitidly the box I tried it with was an older one. I'll give it a try with a newer box tonight to see if that's the case for me too.

LukeUK

I just tried it with my 2006 Pace Digibox, and as hockinsk said, it doesn't work. It finds the channel in a scan, but when you go to watch it, it gives the no signal message.

Kléber

I've got a tech question here, don't know if anyone can help.

I've got a normal TV aerial on the roof and the coaxial cable running down to my TV. Can I swap the aerial for a dish and use the same cable to take the signal down to the box and is there a maximum recommended length for the cable?

antfly

The cable might just work but the connections are different and you would need an LNB and to get the dish pointing in the exact direction.

moray_gub

Kléber wrote:

I've got a tech question here, don't know if anyone can help.

I've got a normal TV aerial on the roof and the coaxial cable running down to my TV. Can I swap the aerial for a dish and use the same cable to take the signal down to the box and is there a maximum recommended length for the cable?

Im no expert here but

It may work but often the cable for satellite is CT100 which is superior to the normal coaxial cable that you use. Also depends on the cable run obviously the longer it is the more picture deterioration as antfly says youll need to point the dish to pick up a signal. They are punting SKY hd for £49 these days go on splash out :-)

MG

Kléber

I can angle the dish myself, it's just the co-axial cable from the TV aerial on the roof is buried in the wall, so I'm wondering I can use this. Thanks for the info, if it sounds OK I'll have to investigate whether the quality will be ok.

It's actually to get Euro TV stations, so I can view the Giro and Tour in HD instead of relying on cyclingfans...

antfly

Well in that case you`d need a Sky HD box and Sky HD subscription anyway.

LukeUK

Kléber wrote:

I can angle the dish myself, it's just the co-axial cable from the TV aerial on the roof is buried in the wall, so I'm wondering I can use this. Thanks for the info, if it sounds OK I'll have to investigate whether the quality will be ok.

It's actually to get Euro TV stations, so I can view the Giro and Tour in HD instead of relying on cyclingfans...

If the cable you have is of the top kind, it's usless for satellite, however if its of the bottom two, and has a 2nd foil screening, all you need to do is put some F-Connectors on each end.

blazing_saddles

A REAL FEAST from RAI today.
ON NOW 3 Hours of Tirreno stages 1-4 until 12-25CET (just starting stage 2)
16-34CET for another couple of hours, the remainder of the rcae.
22-30CET 30" of the Tour of Lake Garda.....

...onto the main event.
Tomorrow

RAITRE ONLY (no Piu coverage)
14-50-17-00 CET Milan-San Remo.
That's a full hour before Harmon's lot show up.

US ONLY Cycling tv. Ignore their schedules, 'tis bollocks.
Can't go "live" until RAITRE turns up with their feed, so same as above.

Early news on the GPE3/Brabantse Pijl RTBF coverage isn't good.
E3, on Sat 27th is fine, from 14-30CET-17-10
RTBF Sat schedules at the moment say they have NO coverage of the Sunday half.
This will be a first, if true.