Cycling on tv in the US: ch ch ch changes

[ny biker]

So, they've changed Versus to the NBC Sports Network. It appears to be just a name change, since Comcast/NBC/Universal took them over last year. Paul Sherwen said on twitter that cycling coverage would not be affected. Tour Down Under coverage starts soon with 30 minute shows each day. They might also cover Paris Roubaix live.

Looking at my on-screen guide, it's the same channel number as Versus.

Apparently unrelated to this is the disappearance of Universal Sports. A friend in NJ mentioned it had disappeared from his cable lineup; I checked and found the channel had also vanished from mine (literally -- channel 207 no longer exists at all). According to this article, the people who run it decided to change the way it's distributed, which has resulted in its disappearance. They think this is temporary as cable systems add them to their lineup packages. Currently they only have a deal with Direct TV.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/ente...-that-way.html

If NBC Sports covers the same races as last year, various spring classics, the TdF, and the Tour of California should all be on tv to some extent. However it looks like many of us won't see the Giro or Vuelta.

This is the website for Universal Sports. It looks like you can watch some races online for a fee, or possibly for free after the race is over.

http://www.universalsports.com/cycling/index.html

Anyway, looking forward to the Tour Down Under!!

[Catrin]

This is interesting, especially since it WAS available via rabbit ears in the Indianapolis region until recently. I just checked my tv and the NBC affiliate has replaced it with some other station. I hadn't noticed that it had disappeared, sad...

[jessmarimba]

I'm so upset that NBC Universal is gone. It WAS available via antenna here until January 1st, and I only discovered it was free about a month ago!

[ny biker]

I'm so upset that NBC Universal is gone. It WAS available via antenna here until January 1st, and I only discovered it was free about a month ago!

Exactly. They don't want to be a free channel anymore.

You kinda have to wonder how they are selling any advertising, since their audience has dropped so much. I guess they figure they're willing to take a short-term loss while they rebuild.

[channlluv]

This might sound nitpicky, but we found it really hard to watch races on Universal because they were not in HD. Yeah, I know, how spoiled are we, right? But the grainy coverage of races in Spain and Italy, for instance, was just hard to watch. You couldn't tell some of the teams apart if their jerseys were at all similar in color or design, and I couldn't tell the riders apart, and you couldn't really make out the expressions on their faces.

I do prefer Fabian and Thor in HD.

Roxy

[radacrider]

We just have basic cable and, yep, we no got Universal anymore. poo

[AppleTree]

This might sound nitpicky, but we found it really hard to watch races on Universal because they were not in HD. Yeah, I know, how spoiled are we, right? But the grainy coverage of races in Spain and Italy, for instance, was just hard to watch. You couldn't tell some of the teams apart if their jerseys were at all similar in color or design, and I couldn't tell the riders apart, and you couldn't really make out the expressions on their faces.

I do prefer Fabian and Thor in HD.

Roxy

+1 on the HD. Not only that, but we miss Paul and Phil when Universal covered the bike races. Although I kinda like Gogo, I was glad they included him in the TdF coverage last summer.

I haven't looked to see if we still have the Universal channel here...just looked, yep we still have it here on Comcast cable. Wonder for how long?