Streaming Cycling in UK - Discovery+ prices!

[OldShep]

Carlton is now safe in my household. Dislike has firmly moved to Jez Cox. What a stupid boy he is and capable of spouting absolute pish.

 

[cougie uk]

Look on the bright side - at least highlights of the Tour of Britain will still be on ITV 😳

Will it though ? Wasn't Ellingworth organising the ToB - but he left British Cycling to go back to Bahrain Victorious.
Who's organising it this year ? It's September but no route announced as yet ?

 

[Venod]

the cyclists who come up will not have any heroes to watch on TV and some interest will slow down

I may have an outdated view of all this, when I was a lad there was no cycling on TV, was it the 80s we first saw TDF on TV ? We read about the races in cycling weekly, I have been an avid watcher of free to air cycling coverage but I have never paid to watch it and never will, the beauty of cycling is the taking part in whatever form not the watching.

 

[ColinJ]

I may have an outdated view of all this, when I was a lad there was no cycling on TV, was it the 80s we first saw TDF on TV ? We read about the races in cycling weekly, I have been an avid watcher of free to air cycling coverage but I have never paid to watch it and never will, the beauty of cycling is the taking part in whatever form not the watching.

I cycled as a child but I had my bike stolen from school when I was 13 and didn't ride again until I was 33. What got me interested in cycling again was watching the Tour de France on TV in 1989. I'm sure that TV coverage has got many other people interested in the sport. You have to be interested in the sport to start with to be buying Cycling Weekly!

We oldies rode bikes around with our mates when we were kids but most parents these days are much more cautious about letting 8 or 9 year olds go off exploring on bikes without adult supervision. Many of us then didn't get lifts everywhere so our bikes were our transport.

Things are different now though so I think that losing cycling coverage is a BIG deal! I am going to miss it terribly but I am extremely reluctant to spend £31/month on it - that is about 15% of my monthly free cash!

 

[rualexander]

Trying to put a positive spin on this, at £6.99 a month for the past year or so it's worked out at £84 for a year.
Now we can get 3 months for £93.
So we can spend more or less the same as before, and get say, two Grand Tours plus a month of Spring Classics.
And a few other races that fill up the months.
Not as good certainly, and requires keeping a close watch on your subscription dates, but its maybe one way to look at it.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

In the old days (60s and 70s??) the Milk Race used to go past out house in Moreton on the Wirral
and I always loved to watch it

I have no idea why but I found the TdF in the 80s and then watched it every day for years
it was one of the few things I always had set up to record so I could watch it if I got home late

I will miss it if it starts to cost too much to watch - but I am not paying 30 odd quid a month - or even close to it - to watch then I will just have to stop
especially as a lot of the coverage I have seen in the last 2 years has been terrible - except for the GTs

 

[Dogtrousers]

Trying to put a positive spin on this, at £6.99 a month for the past year or so it's worked out at £84 for a year.
Now we can get 3 months for £93.
So we can spend more or less the same as before, and get say, two Grand Tours plus a month of Spring Classics.
And a few other races that fill up the months.
Not as good certainly, and requires keeping a close watch on your subscription dates, but its maybe one way to look at it.

Interesting. So interesting that it called for a spreadsheet and a visit to Procyclingstats

Assuming you want to watch the TdF and TdF Femmes, then your 3 months will have to be 4 May to 3rd Aug. That would give you the following:

Mens WT races:
09.05 - 01.06 Giro d'Italia
08.06 - 15.06 Critérium du Dauphiné
15.06 - 22.06 Tour de Suisse
22.06 Copenhagen Sprint
05.07 - 27.07 Tour de France
2.08 Donostia San Sebastian Klasikoa

Women's WT:
04.05 - 10.05 Vuelta España Femenina by Carrefour.es (added in edit)
16.05 - 18.05 Itzulia Women
22.05 - 25.05 Vuelta a Burgos Feminas
05.06 - 08.06 Tour of Britain Women
12.06 - 15.06 Tour de Suisse Women
21.06 Copenhagen Sprint
06.07 - 13.07 Giro d'Italia Women
26.07 - 03.08 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift

But if you decided to push the boat out and get four months leading up to the end of the TdF Femmes you'd also get 4 Apr-3 May
Men
6.04 Ronde van Vlaanderen
07.04 - 12.04 Itzulia Basque Country
13.04 Paris-Roubaix
20.04 Amstel Gold Race
23.04 La Flèche Wallonne
27.04 Liège-Bastogne-Liège
1.05 Eschborn-Frankfurt

Women
6.04 Ronde van Vlaanderen
12.04 Paris-Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift
20.04 Amstel Gold Race Ladies Edition
23.04 La Flèche Wallonne Féminine
27.04 Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes

You can work out the non WT races for yourself

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Interesting. So interesting that it called for a spreadsheet and a visit to Procyclingstats

Assuming you want to watch the TdF and TdF Femmes, then your 3 months will have to be 4 May to 3rd Aug. That would give you the following:

Mens WT races:
09.05 - 01.06 Giro d'Italia
08.06 - 15.06 Critérium du Dauphiné
15.06 - 22.06 Tour de Suisse
22.06 Copenhagen Sprint
05.07 - 27.07 Tour de France
2.08 Donostia San Sebastian Klasikoa

Women's WT:
16.05 - 18.05 Itzulia Women
22.05 - 25.05 Vuelta a Burgos Feminas
05.06 - 08.06 Tour of Britain Women
12.06 - 15.06 Tour de Suisse Women
21.06 Copenhagen Sprint
06.07 - 13.07 Giro d'Italia Women
26.07 - 03.08 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift

But if you decided to push the boat out and get four months leading up to the end of the TdF Femmes you'd also get 4 Apr-3 May
Men
6.04 Ronde van Vlaanderen
07.04 - 12.04 Itzulia Basque Country
13.04 Paris-Roubaix
20.04 Amstel Gold Race
23.04 La Flèche Wallonne
27.04 Liège-Bastogne-Liège
1.05 Eschborn-Frankfurt

Women
6.04 Ronde van Vlaanderen
12.04 Paris-Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift
20.04 Amstel Gold Race Ladies Edition
23.04 La Flèche Wallonne Féminine
27.04 Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes

You can work out the non WT races for yourself

In this world nothing can be said to be certain, expect death, taxes and Dogtrousers producing a spreadsheet.

 

[Big T]

We didn’t realise it at the time but we’ve never had it so good as the last few years. When GCN+ first came out, it was free. Then, when they did introduce a charge, it was a bargain of £3.99 a month or a year pass for £40. Then it got jacked up to £6.99 a month with D+.

When Eurosport first became available, you could only get it via satellite, and you had to have at least the basic Sky package. I can’t remember how much it was but more than £6.99. Probably around £15 per month. For years, I relied on my friend videotaping the Eurosport coverage and him passing around the video at our weekly club night. So I’d being watching stuff 2-3 weeks after it happened.

 

[mjr]

When Eurosport first became available, you could only get it via satellite, and you had to have at least the basic Sky package.

When it first started in 1989, it was free, with two audio channels, English and German. It's basically the digital replacement of that for German which is still free today. The English version only moved behind the Sky paywall when Sky Digital launched in 1998, probably because the UK is seen as "treasure island" by foreign-owned companies like Sky.

 

[ColinJ]

When Eurosport first became available, you could only get it via satellite, and you had to have at least the basic Sky package.

When it first started in 1989, it was free, with two audio channels, English and German.

That's how I used to watch it. I bought a used analogue dish and box for about £30. That worked pretty well for years, except in heavy rain when the picture broke up and disappeared!

I think I will just have to make do with race analysis by Lanterne Rouge and Chris Horner on YouTube. Their work is very good but it won't be the same as watching the last 2 or 3 of hours of racing each day.

 

[Mike_P]

That's how I used to watch it. I bought a used analogue dish and box for about £30. That worked pretty well for years, except in heavy rain when the picture broke up and disappeared!

I think I will just have to make do with race analysis by Lanterne Rouge and Chris Horner on YouTube. Their work is very good but it won't be the same as watching the last 2 or 3 of hours of racing each day.

Quite often a race will put up its own highlights package. The Aluala tour did that with interviews as well.

 

[cyberknight]

Number of complaints have been sent to the competition and market regulator
https://road.cc/content/news/cycling-tnt-move-price-gouging-fans-say-312405

https://contact-the-cma.service.gov.uk/wizard/classify

 

[Flick of the Elbow]

With great reluctance we’ve signed up to TNT’s half price offer, lasts until the end of September. Gives us until then to further consider our options. I think this is the death knell for UK professional cycling.

 

[mjr]

With great reluctance we’ve signed up to TNT’s half price offer, lasts until the end of September. Gives us until then to further consider our options. I think this is the death knell for UK professional cycling.

Discovery plus's paywall, doing for UK pro cycling what Team Discovery's hiring of Armstrong did for US pro cycling!