OK, I’ll start: no international feed option this year. The miles/km to go tracker alternating back and forth in the upper left corner every 5 seconds is incredibly annoying.
Plus the commercials.
Plus the bottom chyron.
Etc Etc…
Just VPN to Canada and watch Flobikes or VPN to Australia, or…
They spend less time broadcasting a bike race and more time doing personal interest stories. I really don’t care that Neilson Powless’s family support means everything to him. I also don’t need you to cutaway to the broadcast booth to show Roll and Vande Velde talking. I can hear them just fine while you show the race.
I’m gonna do a timer on the next stage and see what % is showing the current race on the road. Include all the world feed cutaways to chateaus and I wouldn’t be surprised it it’s only 50% racing.
It’s as bad as the Olympic coverage, and the Ironman Hawaii broadcast and pretty much any non major league sport coverage.
It’s as bad as the Olympic coverage, and the Ironman Hawaii broadcast and pretty much any non major league sport coverage.
Maybe they can get Bob Costas to cover the TdF next year.
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I like the pretty pictures they show. I really need to go visit Italy.
Did they just end the stream with 7km to go? Edit: I was behind on the stream.
Trying to find some positives. Tejay van Garderen and Brent Bookwalter in the studio give some solid insight. These are guys who understand the peloton.
Though they should dress casual like Dan Lloyd and co. in the Giro coverage instead of the ridiculous suits. *
- except Orla, always dressed impeccably.
I’m going to be the contrarian here, I think the coverage is pretty good. As for all the back stories, you have to fill in all those hours of the peloton just riding along with something, so I wont harsh on that angle too much…The commentary is fine, TJ just talks a little too much about himself in all the comparison type segments…
But really guys, think most of you must not have been around 20 years ago when we got clips on the weekends, or even earlier when there was basically nothing except maybe wide world of sports. And keep in mind when the real live action happens, it happens really quick and in a lot of different spots, so not easy to cover all of that at the same moments.
I’m enjoying it and the commercials gvie me lots of time to piddle around the house. Having the last bits commercial free are great too, where all the final action is anyway…
Yeah 20y ago there was almost no coverage, but watch the world feed today. It’s not wall to wall excitement but it shows 100% of the race with legit commentators who know much more about racing than the NBC guys.
Ill watch the race while working and halfway pay attention for 75% of it. I didn’t need them to hold my attention directly for 6h. The world feed understands that, they know it’s likely to be in the background until 40k. NBC tries to keep you glued for the whole thing and it’s just bad.
This is the first year that the TdF doesn’t make it to US TV.
As time goes by, NBC Sports does less & less on TV.
First they dropped the ‘Olympic Channel’ then they dropped the ‘Sports Channel’.
I don’t expect much of the 2024 Olympics to be on US TV.
This is the first year that the TdF doesn’t make it to US TV.
As time goes by, NBC Sports does less & less on TV.
First they dropped the ‘Olympic Channel’ then they dropped the ‘Sports Channel’.
I don’t expect much of the 2024 Olympics to be on US TV.
Honestly I’m glad I can see them on a streaming service. I remember when it was on TV - NBC and I think Travel Network at one point. The amount of interruptions for ads was incredible.
NBC will still show the summer Olympics - mainly women’s gymnastics - because that’s their revenue train.
This is the first year that the TdF doesn’t make it to US TV.
As time goes by, NBC Sports does less & less on TV.
First they dropped the ‘Olympic Channel’ then they dropped the ‘Sports Channel’.
I don’t expect much of the 2024 Olympics to be on US TV.
I wouldn’t notice…haven’t used “TV” (meaning OTA broadcast or old school cable) for about 20 years. 
I’d imagine they see the great majority of viewers on the phone app by this point.
I’m going to be the contrarian here, I think the coverage is pretty good. As for all the back stories, you have to fill in all those hours of the peloton just riding along with something, so I wont harsh on that angle too much…The commentary is fine, TJ just talks a little too much about himself in all the comparison type segments…
But really guys, think most of you must not have been around 20 years ago when we got clips on the weekends, or even earlier when there was basically nothing except maybe wide world of sports. And keep in mind when the real live action happens, it happens really quick and in a lot of different spots, so not easy to cover all of that at the same moments.
I’m enjoying it and the commercials gvie me lots of time to piddle around the house. Having the last bits commercial free are great too, where all the final action is anyway…
Spot on. Today’s access is so much better than the old, occasional Wild World of Sports segment clips and having the rare opportunity to see a live broadcast via closed circuit broadcast.
Its 50 times better than IM/Outside race coverage, which works out to slightly below mediocre.
“WIDE World of Sports”
https://youtu.be/Vv368yWOSas?si=qLalFFqEukoBk7L9
We already have Peacock in our Xfinity bundle, so we’re not paying extra for TDF
To be honest, we probably watch more Bravo content, anyway (Housewives, Below Deck, Southern Charm)
My protocol is as follows: run Peacock off my phone in the background while working, follow the race itself on PCS, catch WEDŪ recap at the end of the day
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Admittedly spoiled from our GCN coverage and commentators over the last number of years, Phil and Bob are excruciating. They are nice people. I actually used to ride with Bob often in the late '80s in Boulder and he was a lot of fun. And yes, I’ve watched cycling in every way we could since then as well. Doesn’t take away from justifiable critique. Tejay and Brent in coat and tie feels weird. American coverage has just never conveyed cycling’s essence the same way. IMHO.
I don’t mind the coverage but I could do without all “the feed†commercials. It’s already gotten old and we are only on day 3.
I’m going to be the contrarian here, I think the coverage is pretty good. As for all the back stories, you have to fill in all those hours of the peloton just riding along with something, so I wont harsh on that angle too much…The commentary is fine, TJ just talks a little too much about himself in all the comparison type segments…
But really guys, think most of you must not have been around 20 years ago when we got clips on the weekends, or even earlier when there was basically nothing except maybe wide world of sports. And keep in mind when the real live action happens, it happens really quick and in a lot of different spots, so not easy to cover all of that at the same moments.
I’m enjoying it and the commercials gvie me lots of time to piddle around the house. Having the last bits commercial free are great too, where all the final action is anyway…
Spot on. Today’s access is so much better than the old, occasional Wild World of Sports segment clips and having the rare opportunity to see a live broadcast via closed circuit broadcast.
I think some of the backlash is probably from viewers in the North American market who had access to Eurosport Player or GCN the past few years. The coverage and quality of commentary far exceeded what is on Peacock and for a very reasonable price. Peacock is backsliding for those folks with the added advertising annoyance and price to boot.
With the state of live triathlon coverage, I don’t think I can, in good conscience, knock TDF coverage. Yeah, they do some Olympic-esque puff pieces & show every church they ride by but I think that’s fine in the early stages. They have a lot of time to fill. & this is an event that does get a decent # of casuals turning in who definitely do not know who all of the major players all. They still make sure to show all of the breaks (or go back & show us something they think is important). They have tons of different cameras to show different riders/groups. They use split screen well. It’s never going to be perfect when mass participation sports try to cater to everyone & not just the diehards. Not every segment is for everyone & that’s ok.