Where to watch Cyclocross world Cups in the US

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Permalink Reply by FallDownGoBoom on October 2, 2009 at 9:47am

I posed the same question on a couple different forums a couple weeks ago, and not a single person had a suggestion for this year. I contacted Universal Sports, and got no response. I contacted cycling.tv (and whined like my little 2 and 4 year old cyclocrossing girls), and unlike last year when cycling.tv said, "we're working on it, lots of legal stuff but we expect to have the race," and they did provide coverage at the last minute, this year they told me they have absolutely no expectation of delivering race footage in the US.

So, I think we're screwed. HEY - Who wants to chip in to help buy ME plane tickets to Belgium (business class will suffice), and I'll copy the live coverage and bring it back for us all to share? What, no takers? You're all cheap and have no vision.

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Permalink Reply by mpapet on October 11, 2009 at 7:06am

This is probably a 'chicken and egg' problem. I'm assuming the UCI owns the broadcast rights. If they do own the rights, it would cost a fscking fortune to get them and the media outlet (ex. universal sports) probably can't make the cost/viewership work.

If the race organizer owns the rights, imagine trying to negotiate 11/12 races. I'm assuming they have leased the broadcast production equipment and operators. (cha-cha-ching)

A totally illegal way to do it would be to get hosting server/bandwidth in Belgium and proxy out the Belgian broadcast. The upside is your Dutch would get a whole lot better while you are breaking copyright law.

Somewhat off topic, but I've been very interested in providing a micro-broadcasting service to races using low-end digital equipment. The technology is there, but the production values would be low and there would be several hours delay gluing the whole thing together. What screws the pooch is the travel bills to get skilled people to do the filming.

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Permalink Reply by Carl Ring on October 11, 2009 at 11:08am

I know an outfit to do skilled filming on the east coast (or at least in New England). One of the guys on the regular group rides in my town runs a company that films tri's and marathons. He has also done some bike races. We've spoken briefly about doing cyclocross races and he seems interested. Contact me if you want his info.

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Permalink Reply by andrew on October 12, 2009 at 12:49am

Hey guys,
we've been looking into doing the same thing. We should all connect...and experiment. Drop me a PM with his info, mpapet, you too.

For UCI - Universal told us World Cups are unlikely to happen. So we'll do our best to continue doing live coverage via text - not the same we know, but then Youtube has highlights shortly after. Perhaps the two will do until we can get them to realize there is a market. Definitely let Universal and Cycling.TV know you'd pay to see it.

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Permalink Reply by Darren on October 12, 2009 at 5:10am

Or have have your cycling TV account in another country. Basically Universal owns the rights for the UCI stuff in the US. So Cycling TV can't show it in the US, but Universal is not putting in the money to actually produce the content. I am fine not watching it live. I mean I liked how the guys did Star Crossed. I mean I think 30minute recap show would be great. There is a site that does UCI Mt. Biking replays but not CX. I think there would be interest in Tape delay coverage of US cross. Most of us don't watch the Tour de France live we wait until the night time to watch it at home(and make sure not to see the results in the daytime).

-Darren

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Permalink Reply by mpapet on October 12, 2009 at 10:14am

I just watched a recap show for the Avalanche cup over the weekend. It needed fewer cut-aways (is that a word?) and more in-race action. Otherwise, IMHO production values were great. No doubt there was quite a bit of money up-front to get the filming done.

My production-quality goals just aren't that high with micro-broadcasting. I don't know that the hardcore fan base would spend enough money for something with low production values. (ex. poor youtube video) I would, but I'm vaguely indifferent to the quality over actually seeing the race play out almost-live. Most people aren't as indifferent as I am.

The gambling money needed to pay Carl's friend+crew to get decent footage to attract a larger audience would be pretty high.

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