Cycling on Sky tv

heathrow86

I was reading in last weeks Cycling Weekly, that Sky are going to cover one of the Nocturne events in June, it may the London one i think. Anyway in the article it says Sky is looking to extend it coverage of cycling. What worries me is if they put more on the Sky sports channels, the one's you pay for, where does that leave Eurosport or will they show the sport on both channels, therefore making you pay more for it? I personally do not wish to pay for Sky sports in order to watch a few cycling events and have it redundant the rest of the time. Any thoughts?

redddraggon

A lot of events like the TdF, have coverage protection for "free to air" channels, which Eurosport fits the criteria for.

avoidingmyphd

not a lot of point them sponsoring a team if it only gets them airtime in their existing customers' houses. they'll leave the good stuff for other broadcasters.

Gingerflash

"not a lot of point them sponsoring a team if it only gets them airtime in their existing customers' houses. "

1 Put lots of money into a minority sport and create a good strong home-based team
2 Generate UK public interest in that sport, through that team
3 Buy the rights to the main events and show them on your paid channel.
4 The now-interested UK public sign up to your channels so they can watch their new-found sport.

I doubt the aim was as simple as wanting to get the word "Sky" to appear on the other channels' coverage.

avoidingmyphd

Gingerflash wrote:

"not a lot of point them sponsoring a team if it only gets them airtime in their existing customers' houses. "

1 Put lots of money into a minority sport and create a good strong home-based team
2 Generate UK public interest in that sport, through that team
3 Buy the rights to the main events and show them on your paid channel.
4 The now-interested UK public sign up to your channels so they can watch their new-found sport.

I doubt the aim was as simple as wanting to get the word "Sky" to appear on the other channels' coverage.

Your version is a long shot gamble at all 4 steps. And the timescales are massive.
Mine is guaranteed to work, and work immediately.

iainf72

Gingerflash wrote:

1 Put lots of money into a minority sport and create a good strong home-based team
2 Generate UK public interest in that sport, through that team
3 Buy the rights to the main events and show them on your paid channel.
4 The now-interested UK public sign up to your channels so they can watch their new-found sport.

I'd hope that wasn't the plan because your average cycling fan could've expained number 3 wasn't do-able.

hammerite

After seeing reports of last nights smut fest on Sky Atlantic I thought I'd see when/if the channel will be aired on Virgin Media. Did a bit of a search and I found this, seems that Sky are more interested in the name making column inches than necessarily viewers - http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/feb/03/sky-atlantic-virgin-media

After all it doesn't really matter if no one is watching their channels as long as they're paying one way or another to subscribe to them.

ms_tree

In next week's Radio Times someone asked the MD of Sky sports if they would be bidding for the Tour. His answer is that the Tour is on ITV and Eurosport for another 3 yrs so it isn't an option. They are looking at other ways of covering cycling and this summer will be showing the British Premier Calendar and Elite Circuit plus the Nocturne series.
Like Heathrow I worry that the coverage will go to the premier channels and I pay Virgin enough already without the extras and would only want it for cycling.

Cleat Eastwood

And I'm sure I heard Harmon talking to Backstedt saying that eurosport were going to show the tour series

heathrow86

I did not know that they were covering the Premier calendar events as well. Sky are crafty though because they will show one event on say Sky 1 and then another event on Sky 3, they did this over the winter when the darts was on, a sport which i also like. Needless to say i did'nt buy into it. But in 3 years the rights to the tour will be up for renewal, the i reckon Sky will bid for it.

iainf72

heathrow86 wrote:

I did not know that they were covering the Premier calendar events as well. Sky are crafty though because they will show one event on say Sky 1 and then another event on Sky 3, they did this over the winter when the darts was on, a sport which i also like. Needless to say i did'nt buy into it. But in 3 years the rights to the tour will be up for renewal, the i reckon Sky will bid for it.

They could bid for it but remember part of the agreement is it must be on free-to-air channels.

Channels like Eurosport have coverage in loads of countries etc, so they're quite an attractive option.

hotoph88

Following the thread about Emma Pooley & Binda, Richard Moore at Sky interviews Emma here
http://www.skysports.com/opinion/story/ ... 07,00.html

It is an odd article because it offers zero analysis of the solution.
Which is rather weird because here there is a preview of the Fleche
http://www.teamsky.com/article/0,27290, ... 93,00.html
that totally ignores the women's race.

Here there is a photo gallery
http://www.teamsky.com/gallery/0,27401, ... 27,00.html
that totally ignores the women's race.

Here there is a results page
http://www.teamsky.com/standings/0,2861 ... 64,00.html
that totally ignores the women's race.

So it must be obvious to the rest of the World, even if it is not to Richard, that if Richard wanted an answer to the problem Emma describes, then he also needs to ask the people who pass him his paycheck why they continue to act with such prejudice.

Well done on Emma for speaking out. A pity Richard is too slow to work out that he is a significant element of the problem.

RichN95.

iainf72 wrote:

They could bid for it but remember part of the agreement is it must be on free-to-air channels.

Channels like Eurosport have coverage in loads of countries etc, so they're quite an attractive option.

Well agreements can be changed when they run out.

More interesting though, is not whether Sky buy the broadcast rights but whether News International would be interested in buying cycling (or at least ASO). It's been reported this week that NI are looking to buy F1, so maybe that's the direction they're going in these days. It would be a shrewd move from their point of view.

hammerite

hotoph88 wrote:

Following the thread about Emma Pooley & Binda, Richard Moore at Sky interviews Emma here
http://www.skysports.com/opinion/story/ ... 07,00.html

It is an odd article because it offers zero analysis of the solution.
Which is rather weird because here there is a preview of the Fleche
http://www.teamsky.com/article/0,27290, ... 93,00.html
that totally ignores the women's race.

Here there is a photo gallery
http://www.teamsky.com/gallery/0,27401, ... 27,00.html
that totally ignores the women's race.

Here there is a results page
http://www.teamsky.com/standings/0,2861 ... 64,00.html
that totally ignores the women's race.

So it must be obvious to the rest of the World, even if it is not to Richard, that if Richard wanted an answer to the problem Emma describes, then he also needs to ask the people who pass him his paycheck why they continue to act with such prejudice.

Well done on Emma for speaking out. A pity Richard is too slow to work out that he is a significant element of the problem.

This is a Team Sky website though, not a Sky Sports website. Sky are just a sponsor of a cycling team here, they probably have little or no input on the website. If Sky pulled out as a sponsor the team would still exist, they'd just be on the look out for a new sponsor. Team Sky will talk about a race they had involvement in, they have no women's team so have no need to talk about it on their website.

Although your logic is correct if you look at the Sky Sports website. http://www.skysports.com/cycling. Interesting Mr Vroomen believes that every male pro tour cycling team should have a ladies pro cycling team.

hotoph88

hammerite wrote:

This is a Team Sky website though, not a Sky Sports website. Sky are just a sponsor of a cycling team here, they probably have little or no input on the website. If Sky pulled out as a sponsor the team would still exist, they'd just be on the look out for a new sponsor. Team Sky will talk about a race they had involvement in, they have no women's team so have no need to talk about it on their website.

Although your logic is correct if you look at the Sky Sports website. http://www.skysports.com/cycling. Interesting Mr Vroomen believes that every male pro tour cycling team should have a ladies pro cycling team.

Your 2nd para is the relevant one. Skysports is the unique location where the comment from Moore was and alongside it, on Skysports were all the links. Skysports were not identifying that they were Teamsky links but rather promoting them as Skysports' information in support of the viewer and the whole TV sport package from Sky.

The incongruity of the positioning of Moore's piece, its failure to offer any consequential analysis and being surrounded by what is so obviously a major feature of the problem Emma so clearly identifies, is all quite breathtaking.

rick_chasey

If sky buy out cycling, I'm installing a bit f*ck off satalite and getting Sporza beamed straight in.

I have no interest hearing some anglophile spending the entire race talking about America's best thing and the Tour de France in the middle of April, or their kit and their watt output while the shit is hitting the fan on the road with 30km to go.



Harmon & Kelly I can live with fine. Recently the twitter/interactive side is getting on my t!ts a bit, especially when Harmon had to calm everyone on twitter down with that whole Vino chat
. Stop marshelling thecrowd and comment on the race!

But by and large they're ok. Harmon has a better eye for when to stop the sh!t chat than most and Kelly's increasingly getting better with some genuine insight, though with Kelly you get the impression he always gives you the most basic answer because that was the only understanding he needed - given his natural gift.

In short, if Sky buy it they better get some good comemntators or it'll be massively sh!t.

I can see it now. "Tour de France Fantastic Sunday" "FIVE OF THE BIGGEST CLIMBS IN THE WOOORLD, climbed by the world's best riders. WIll Cavendish outsprint Contador, this year's Amrstrong, onAlpe D'Huez? Who knows!"

and if it gets the coverage in 2012, it'll be like no other race before then has occured.

iainf72

RichN95 wrote:

iainf72 wrote:

They could bid for it but remember part of the agreement is it must be on free-to-air channels.

Channels like Eurosport have coverage in loads of countries etc, so they're quite an attractive option.

Well agreements can be changed when they run out.

They can, but does it make sense for cycling? Not really - You need to attract sponsors for it to survive, and sponsors want the highest possible exposure. So by ensuring the biggest races must be free to air they keep the sponsorship cycle going.

We need to look at the whole eco system.

RichN95.

iainf72 wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

iainf72 wrote:

They could bid for it but remember part of the agreement is it must be on free-to-air channels.

Channels like Eurosport have coverage in loads of countries etc, so they're quite an attractive option.

Well agreements can be changed when they run out.

They can, but does it make sense for cycling? Not really - You need to attract sponsors for it to survive, and sponsors want the highest possible exposure. So by ensuring the biggest races must be free to air they keep the sponsorship cycle going.

We need to look at the whole eco system.

What you say is very true. But it assumes that the current business model for cycling is the only business model for cycling. It's a model that's essentially been around for 100 years, so maybe the sport could benefit from a change, maybe it wouldn't. This is sort of what Vaughters et al have been hinting at. As far as TV rights and presentation goes, cycling is in the dark ages. And it's been undersold for years. Sky, who as sports broadcasters are only rivalled by the US, could be the ones to show the sport the light.

It's all hypothetical, but personally, I think that cycling needs a bit of modernisation.

heathrow86

Sorry to gon on about this but found this just:

News comes as event signs IG Markets in sponsor deal

Elite night-time inner city cycle event London Nocturne has signed a three-year sponsorship deal with IG Markets, a leading provider of Contracts for Difference.

The sponsorship is the latest move in IG’s increasing presence in the cycle sphere, having recently sponsored Team Sky.

The Nocturne organisers said the deal with IG has helped secure Sky Sports as host broadcaster, meaning the London Nocturne will be televised for the first time this year.

IG Group chief exec Tim Howkins enthused: “We are delighted to announce our partnership with the London Nocturne. Cycling is currently going through a renaissance and we believe it has a specific appeal to our target audiences. We hope that our commitment to the event will help deliver the sport to a more mainstream audience whilst helping IG Markets promote its products to a growing audience.”

The London Nocturne takes place on June 11th 2011 at Smithfield Market and will feature the IG Markets Team Challenge where businesses will get the chance to race each other.

Nocturne Series founder James Pope commented: “With the support of IG Markets we are aiming to develop the London Nocturne into the leading criterium event in the world over the next three years. The new partnership has helped secure Sky Sports as the host broadcaster and the London Nocturne will be televised for the first time this year.

“We will be bringing in riders from World Tour teams to take on the top British riders so that we can give everyone with any interest in cycling, from hardcore fans to people that commute on their bike, the chance to see some of the world’s best riders in action in the heart of the City of London.”

The London Nocturne is now in its fifth year. 25,000 people have attended the Nocturne Series since 2007.

deejay

hotoph88 wrote:

Following the thread about Emma Pooley & Binda, Richard Moore at Sky interviews Emma here
http://www.skysports.com/opinion/story/ ... 07,00.html

It is an odd article because it offers zero analysis of the solution.
Which is rather weird because here there is a preview of the Fleche
http://www.teamsky.com/article/0,27290, ... 93,00.html
that totally ignores the women's race.


Here there is a results page
http://www.teamsky.com/standings/0,2861 ... 64,00.html
that totally ignores the women's race.

I so want to ask, if and when they started to race the Fleche Wallonne or is it just a hill climb event. :shock:

Wednesday, I arrived on the course from KENT, at Andenne and started to follow the course in reverse (well this new bit I'm not sure about) when I was pulled over by Police because of a cycle race.
It was the Girls near the top of the Cote de Groynne with about 60Km's to go.
Right across the road and busy nattering like a club run.
The spectators all shrug their shoulders in disappointment.
Never mind,
The men were running about an Hour later.

I was involved with womens cycle racing some years ago and it seems little has changed.

Girls, you need to put on a better show if you want your bike racing to be noticed.