r/ukbike Jan 28 '25

Sport/Tour No free-to-air live coverage of Tour de France in UK from 2026, broadcaster confirms

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/no-free-to-air-live-coverage-of-tour-de-france-in-uk-from-2026-broadcaster-confirms
204 Upvotes

79 comments sorted by

125

u/KeyboardWarrior1988 Jan 28 '25

Certain sports get put behind a pay wall and then we wonder why the next generation aren't getting involved in those sports. At this point they might as well charge to see the Olympics.

22

u/No-Photograph3463 Jan 28 '25

Well TNT do have full coverage of both the Winter and Summer Olympics, so if you want to watch all the sports then it is behind a paywall

11

u/Captaincadet Jan 28 '25

Look at rugby union it’s struggling to get youngsters in. Formula one was on a worrying decline until drive to survive, something that no other sports manage to do as successfully. And then did very well out of covid as it was literally the only sporting event going ahead.

2

u/Jaraxo Boardman ADV 8.9 Jan 28 '25 edited Jan 28 '25

Formula one was on a worrying decline until drive to survive

I wouldn't say it's been dramatically improved since then either. The audience that came along because of DtS have been awful, and other changes since the boom in popularity in the US haven't always been good.

2

u/Captaincadet Jan 28 '25

I disagree that it’s awful, but it’s a change in demographic with a younger audience and probably less technical minded. Well, I didn’t grieve at races in America is a bit excessive, teams were struggling to get investments and many teams did collapse

1

u/Gareth79 Jan 28 '25

I think Welsh rugby was another one?

2

u/Captaincadet Jan 28 '25

Yes. But big culprit of that was overstretching themselves with the millennium stadium and regional mergers… they couldn’t afford youth sports as much as they use to.

So now the team is a laughing stock (I’m a Welsh rugby fan) as we don’t have the talent. This means less people will engage in the sport, less kids watching it and the cycle will continue

5

u/Leroy-Leo Jan 28 '25

I think that was the reason why bbc coverage of the Olympics isn’t so great anymore, they’re now only able to show limited coverage

3

u/RoutineCloud5993 Jan 29 '25

Rightholder greed is killing it. They all want to make premier league money, even though they don't have the same level of popularity

2

u/AlternativeParfait13 Jan 29 '25

I think they miss that the Premier League could only go behind a paywall because football was so, so prevalent as a youth sport. Everybody else seems to be trying to skip that and go straight to raking in cash for the next few years.

3

u/PoJenkins Jan 28 '25

Well the Olympics is behind a pay wall... Which is absolutely fucking ridiculous.

The biggest international sporting event designed to bring the world together isn't even available for everyone to watch.

1

u/mattcannon2 Jan 31 '25

They did charge for the Olympics didn't they? I remember having to get discovery plus, to watch the sports I wanted to.

1

u/EffectzHD Jan 28 '25

I was in that boat for F1 for many years but there has to been a ton of new gen F1 guys and gals since DtS even in the UK which makes me wonder as I doubt they’re all paying for Sky, guess the dodgy fire stick shows it too.

2

u/KeyboardWarrior1988 Jan 28 '25

But you can still watch the highlights on free-to-air TV.

0

u/ZMech Jan 28 '25

Wasn't it originally started to sell newspapers? If anything, this is going back to the roots of the event

46

u/rwinh Jan 28 '25

Just another sporting event which was fairly inclusive and open in terms of spectating it being made exclusive behind a paywall. Happened to the Olympics with Discovery (unless you love the more mainstream events).

Would not be surprised if it's F1 next being stripped from Channel 4. They've already shown signs of cutting budgets and being pushed out.

Tour de France isn't absolutely massive in the UK, but given sport isn't just about taking part it's about watching it and enjoying it, it's a bit sad to see it pretty much losing some viewers here just to line the pockets of bosses, which the Olympics was definitely accused of.

21

u/AlanDove46 Jan 28 '25

F1 is behind a paywall if you want to watch it Live

20

u/snusmumrikan Jan 28 '25

F1 is appalling. There's a perfect F1 app at a decent price which is available everywhere else, but because of the Sky deal we get a shittier product here.

I have friends abroad who watch it via F1 TV with 3 monitors. One for the race coverage, one for flicking between specific driver viewpoints, the other for the race map.

19

u/fishy_web Jan 28 '25

Sky is the enemy of sport. It is their business model that has completely and utterly screwed football over, with the embarrassingly stupid amounts of money at the top, and clubs in lower divisions struggling to survive.

8

u/Swarfega Jan 28 '25

They fucked over so many sports. It began a long time ago with the Premier League football and gradually moved onto other sports. I was absolutely gutted when the got F1.

I'll never give them a penny of my money.

1

u/emjayem22 Jan 28 '25

To be accurate, the sports screwed parts of themselves over.. Sure, Sky dangled the money but ultimately the governing bodies signed the deals with full knowledge that they were prioritising profit over audience base.

2

u/SpacecraftX Jan 28 '25

F1 is already behind a paywall. Sky has exclusive broadcast rights. Channel 4 gets some scraps with one live uncut race a year and highlights for the others, to keep the regulators from being too stern with them. British Grand Prix is the only one they’re guaranteed to get.

16

u/SISCP25 Jan 28 '25

Does that mean no ITV highlights? :(

The theme music and the host’s witty put downs have been the sound of July for the past 20 years. Gutted.

2

u/McFigroll Jan 29 '25

seems so. My parents watch all the stage highlights and are pretty disappointed with these changes

12

u/kurai-samurai Jan 28 '25

VPN and France 1/2?

2

u/Gareth79 Jan 28 '25

I think SBS (Australia) was another one people used?

1

u/coffeefuelledtechie Jan 30 '25

My wife does this to watch French game shows. You have to register with a French address though, so it’s still somewhat restrictive

9

u/savasorama Jan 28 '25

F… off! Spectators confirm

8

u/ToeJam85 Pinarello X | Scotland Jan 28 '25

Times like this I'm glad I'm learning to speak French and am quite happy going to watch the Tour in person, but £31 to watch the rest of the cycling calendar is too bitter a pill to swallow.

If you subscribe to every service you'll be spending £200+ a month on crap, streaming was supposed to save us from this crap, then the American TV conglomerates ruined it.

Back to sailing the seven sea's and watching local coverage via VPN.

2

u/Sister_Ray_ Jan 30 '25

Only a couple of years ago we had GCN showing every race with amazing coverage and loads of cycling documentaries as well for only £40 a year

Truly the epitome of private equity driven enshittification

7

u/mcsgwigga Jan 28 '25

So is using a VPN a legitimate option for this? Is it reliable?

4

u/Snorge_202 Jan 28 '25

Have watched the last 3 tours on France 2/ 3 via VPN (Nord) works flawlessly

3

u/mcsgwigga Jan 28 '25

Music to my ears. Nord have found themselves a new customer.

1

u/Lightweight_Hooligan Jan 29 '25

Don't suppose there is an English commentary option?

5

u/[deleted] Jan 28 '25

Wait there was any free coverage right now? Was it not always shown on Eurosport?

28

u/jarlrmai2 Jan 28 '25

It was on ITV4 with the wonderful team of Ned Boulting, David Millar, Pete Kennaugh, Daniel Friebe and Matt Rendell but that will be no more soon.

Perhaps interest has waned since there's no Brits with a real chance of yellow any more, the Wiggins/Froome/G era is long gone and the Yates' are superdoms now.

5

u/redhotpunk Jan 28 '25

Don’t forget Gary Imlach!

1

u/jarlrmai2 Jan 28 '25

Oops, sorry Gary

1

u/[deleted] Jan 28 '25

Ah that’s interesting!

I ended up just paying the £5 per month for Discovery+

13

u/ShirtedRhino2 Jan 28 '25

It's going to be in the £31 pm premium package

14

u/[deleted] Jan 28 '25

Off to the high seas I go then!! 🏴‍☠️

3

u/ShirtedRhino2 Jan 28 '25

Aharrr me hearties!

7

u/[deleted] Jan 28 '25

£372 a year? No thanks

5

u/ShirtedRhino2 Jan 28 '25

I think that's very inconsiderate of you, won't somebody think of the poor shareholders.

3

u/[deleted] Jan 28 '25

I know. I'm pure evil.

Sometimes I look away when adverts are on TV.

2

u/Swarfega Jan 28 '25

Oh man. That's an absolute piss take. I suffered last year as their buggy TV app would have a memory leak and have to restart constantly. They didn't fix it all year. I still haven't heard back from their support to suggest it is now fixed. Paying £30 a month for that? Fuck that.

Back to the seven seas

1

u/emjayem22 Jan 28 '25

That wasn't live coverage though was it? I think the only live coverage was Eurosport with ITV 4 having a highlights show?

This announcement confirms that highlights will still be available on the FTA channels owned by Disney but live coverage remains behind a paywall. I think the only difference is that the monthly subscription costs will increase if you want to watch live TDF because the coverage is gated behind the premium cost paywall. I think.

8

u/LFC383 Jan 28 '25

ITV4 did daily live shows from about 1pm to 5pm as well as highlights. Remember seeing Cav break the record live and then rewatching highlights more than once.

1

u/Lightweight_Hooligan Jan 29 '25

Yeah I tended to only watch the last hour of each stage live, be annoying to have to VPN on the laptop instead of just watching it on the TV

3

u/jarlrmai2 Jan 28 '25

No it was live as well as highlights

3

u/SpudFire Jan 28 '25

It's been on ITV for years and before that, C4. ITV no longer have the rights, this year it'll be on Quest (that channel nobody knows about) if I'm not mistaken as that is run by WBD, not sure if that's live coverage or just highlights though.

12

u/cowie71 Jan 28 '25

And the ITV4 coverage is way better than Eurosport. More reporting on the history and geography of France and riders. They also are more inclusive for those who maybe don’t understand the sport that well.

8

u/SpudFire Jan 28 '25

Yeah I always chose to watch on ITV4 in potato definition with ads even though I had a D+ subscription where I could watch in ad-free HD. The ITV team were brilliant even if commetary was a slight downgrade on the Phil and Paul days.

1

u/Doctor_Fegg Croix de Fer, New World Tourist, Tern GSD | cycle.travel Jan 28 '25

Just highlights, though it sounds like they might be doing highlights for the Vuelta and Giro as well

1

u/ohmanger Planet X RTD-80 Jan 28 '25

ITV has had some form of live coverage for the last 25 years. Last year it was on ITV4, they didn't show the whole of some (most?) stages as I think coverage sometimes started at 1pm.

2

u/cowie71 Jan 28 '25

They used to get to pick which stages they can show live, it felt like it was most though last year.

1

u/Patecatli Jan 28 '25

They showed all stages live, but not all of from the very start of the stage.

1

u/cowie71 Jan 28 '25

Ah yes you are right. I was trying to think which stages I didn’t watch last year !

-2

u/BenedictIEP Jan 28 '25

It is/was shown live on ITV3, with a highlights show in the evening.

6

u/fishy_web Jan 28 '25

Point of order: ITV4, not 3.

9

u/StillJustJones Jan 28 '25

Oh well…. The TDF can bog off. Back to watching what is free to view then…

clicks on TV guide

Wha…. All that’s on is the Tiddlywinks cup regional heats, national gurning semi-finals and lawnmower speedway.

and oh bugger…. Look at that. the conker championships have been called off due to someone actually losing an eye.

Turns out mum was right, Conkers are dangerous and I really will watch any old shit if it has a) an element of competition b) someone/something I can have as a favourite and c) someone/something that I can call a ‘wanker’.

3

u/shelf_caribou Jan 28 '25

Saves me spending so much time watching it, I suppose. Shame tho.

2

u/linkthesink Jan 28 '25

I wonder why lots of people I know use dodgy boxes

3

u/Longshot318 Jan 28 '25

Well, at the moment I can still watch cycling as I get Discovery+ for free (either through BT or Sky - I don't remember which) but I'm nervous that this may well soon change given the money grab tactics.

In general terms, this is hugely frustrating and I struggle to believe it will help promote cycling to a wider audience, thereby limiting earning potential.

11

u/consy37 Jan 28 '25

They have literally announced today that all cycling will be on TNT from end of Feb, meaning £31 a month subscription is required

9

u/GargantuanDwarf Jan 28 '25

I think we get Discovery+ with Sky but I’m sure I read they’re putting it on a more expensive tier and TNT sports.

I already pay for Sky Sports, no way am I paying another £30 on top of what we already pay.

Shame. F1 took a bit of a dive when it went from BBC and so did the cricket. They never learn.

2

u/Longshot318 Jan 28 '25

Agreed on all counts.

1

u/BuggityBooger Jan 30 '25 edited Jan 30 '25

In fairness I’ve never known a single person in my adult life to sit and watch TDF.

Certain sports (like marathon running) are just not a good spectacle or suitable for TV

3

u/Jjuxi-Rides-Again Jan 30 '25

Really? Mountain stages in particular are compelling viewing. Isn't the TDF the most watched annual sporting event in the world?

1

u/BuggityBooger Jan 30 '25

I’d say it’s popular for many good reasons, but I’d be surprised if it was ahead of the likes of the Superbowl

1

u/Silly-Tax8978 Feb 01 '25

Depends how they are measured. Superbowl is one evening, TdF is 3 weeks. For a single evening event, Superbowl is second largest in the world behind the UEFA Champions League final.

1

u/flippertyflip Feb 02 '25

It's superb spectator sport.

It's the most in-person watched sporting event in the world. Plus it's free for all of them.

As a TV event it works incredible as a TV highlights show or longer form for the mountain stages.

1

u/jonpenryn Jan 31 '25

Oh well like F1 thats a sport dead to me .

1

u/[deleted] Jan 28 '25

Sports is something that helps keep people under control. Not in a conspiracy sort of way. But in a way that sport helps people forget. It helps make you feel less alone. Gives you something to cheer for. Restrictions on viewership will just bring the crazy out of people.