Pro-cycling thread

I was really starting to enjoy cyclocross too

Go wash your mouth out!

how many users can logged into D+/Eurosport at once?...

I think I saw a video like that once.

Hmm, a bit of a kicker going from £20/£30 a year discounted subscription (or even £39 full rate), to an effective ££74 though

You'll feel even worse when you realise it's £83.88 not £74.

Ups, brain fail! Quite.

Ha. Desperate times…

? Plenty of people on here support gcn and the free streaming alternatives are quite bad. This is classic corporate saturn devouring his sons and it is gross to see the dedicated cycling coverage — probably the best and most easily available ever— get canned due to planned consolidation. Why buy gcn if the plan was to dissolve it in three years?

probably the best and most easily available ever

Wasn't it just Eurosport Player with a new logo though really? I mean once you throw out the other videos. I appreciate in some markets Eurosport didn't carry all the races, but they did here :)

Because the plan wasn't to dissolve it? I've no idea why Discovery bought GCN+, but I doubt they bought it with the intention of shutting it down within three years.

I'd imagine that they realised that it was costing more than it was bringing in , especially as they produced a lot of content that barely anyone watched from what I've heard, and decided to streamline the racing coverage, which is, hopefully, generating revenue, into an existing brand, rather than running two with the associated overheads.

I've no idea why Discovery bought GCN+, but I doubt they bought it with the intention of shutting it down within three years.

Unless they planned on moving over the subscribers to Discovery + to increase their subscriber base to their main platform and boost the value of that? Same goes for TNT sports which gives you access to that, so presumably adds 'subscribers'? What this doesn't explain is why they pumped so much money into developing a separate streaming platform in the interim, so you're probably right about not realising the overheads of running parallel platforms in multiple regions.

cant wait for Saudi money to flow in :(

I have never watched a second of the content or engaged with any part of the app except the live race broadcasting. I killed GCN+

I don’t think you’re alone in that. They produced a lot of content, and most of it seemed to involve sending a presenter and a crew to some far flung place, so the budget must’ve been huge.

If barely anyone watched it, then it’s no surprise it’s being shut down. To be honest, I found most of their presenters to be irritating so didn’t bother watching any of it unless the subject matter was of interest.

most of it seemed to involve sending a presenter and a crew to some far flung place

Good example is the the recent one about the Taiwan KOM is content for contents sake. They sent a presenter a year or two ago to it, then again this time. Not sure that anyone who'd seen one of them would really care about the other.

Most of that stuff is paid for by whatever brand they’re hawking during the trip, no? It’s usually on a new Canyon gravel bike or something.

This is just what I’ve heard. Obviously I don’t watch them.

I watched them all at least 40x each to make up for you lot so all of this ^... invalid.

#KillMickeyMouse

Why buy gcn if the plan was to dissolve it in three years?

Not the same companies making the two decisions.

Discovery bought GCN in 2019.

But in 2022 what was Discovery became part of a new company, eventually called Warner Bros. Discovery, along with what was previously AT&T's Time Warner.

They have/are also closing some of their other brands like HBO, I think. [Edit - perhaps not - 'HBO' brands are complex]

Just watched 3 of the docos. I'm getting my money's worth before they burn it to the ground.

Detailed reviews please

#bigplums killed gcn+

Watched the Tommy Godwin doco. Interesting for me because I always found his record insane but a bit cheesey with Mark B riding a replica bike for a day to replicate one day from his year. They get Peter Keen in to do some maths and his conclusion is basically that Tommy G's record isn't possible I think :)

Then two Iceland videos, one with Lael and Jenny and the other with just Jenny Graham (Westfjords: Riding Iceland). We've been to Iceland in winter but riding it when and where they did looks fucking amazing so now I want to go back with a MTB.

I found the documentaries very hit and miss, at least the travel ones anyway. A lot of that kind of thing hinges a lot on how good the presenter is, and they often had nothing to say other than “wow look at that”.

I never watched a single doco as I'm not interested, but living in a non Eurosport country I'm absolutely screwed for racing coverage without it.
Wankers, Time Warner are fucking shitheads.

documentaries very hit and miss

Such is life...

In other news rod ellingworth has left sky/bc ineos again

Has there been any new signings at Ineos?

Looks like a little implosion from the outside.