Last year they canceled their coverage of la Vuelta at the last minute, after it had all been scheduled, saying that it wasn’t worth the money. This year they had no Giro and will again have no Vuelta. Who thinks they will still have tour coverage next year with no Armstrong to draw the fans?
-Colin
In answer to your question - a sceptical no…
But, on another note, you guys are lucky. Unless you have Satellite TV here in the UK, you’re buggered. No coverage. Perhaps if Lance spoke with an English accent we could adopt him as being British, then it would be all over the BBC!
You have to have Satelite or Cable in order to get OLN in the States, too.
Then we are all doooooooooooooooomed…
Come down under.
SBS (our smallest station - goverment subsidised, mainly for foreign language, soccer and porn) is showing EVERY SINGLE STAGE live.
Last year we got 3 live stages, including Champs Elysées and L’Alpe d’Huez, and every other day was a 20 minute highlight package.
I am going to make sure I buy something off every single advertiser who buys space in the hope that it comes back next year.
SB
SB, that’s great. I’ve just booked my oneway ticket. Ok to sleep on your floor? In payment I don’t smell, snore or keep any pets, but I do have IBS - would that be a problem?
Looking forward to it
Seriously, that’s great that such a channel promotes the sport - especially mixed in with a bit of soft core porn 
I see OLN continuing…though probably not with the current 6-8 daily hours across 4 showings…maybe more like twice a day…live and then prime time…
Either that, or Discovery Channel takes the helm…which might prove better in the long run…Discovery has more channels and would not be risking its core audience, like OLN and its hunter/fisherman/rodeo crowd…
I heard it is going to be carried on ESPN-8 “The Ocho” right after the Dodge Ball World Championships.
I was reading on Velonews that OLN doesn’t even have the US TV contract!
ASO, the French TV broadcaster, wouldn’t give the rights to a small cable channel like OLN, so CBS actually has the rights! OLN PAYS CBS! Kinda buggered.
I give it one year… they’ll show it next year, and that’s it. There are some strong Americans in the field, but none that I see winning the GC next year… but we shall see.
I don’t think American audiences have clued in to the fact that the race is more than just the yellow jersey.
Indeed, there will be no Lance Armstrong next year, due to his retirment later on this month. However, from what I have seen this season and even in the first few days of the Tour de France, there could be an American favourite going into the Tour next year and challenging for the lead. The difference, may be that, that American cyclist, could possibly be riding for a non-American sponsored team.
Fleck
C’mon, we all know Basso is going to win this year and next.
People are already writing off some of the favourites - Ullrich in particular, but the reality is the racing has really only just begun. It’s a LONG way to Paris and if past Tours are any indicators, anything can happen.
Fleck
I’m going to make a bold prediction, and say that Armstrong will come out of retirement for the Olympic TT.
Indeed, there will be no Lance Armstrong next year, due to his retirment later on this month.
But I thought Lance had to win?
I think they are very good. OLN has a standing offer to Lance to be a commentator. I also think that it will take it out of the mainstreem a little and make it a perfect show for OLN. They need an affordable show that advertisers are interested in. This may also make for less commercials and better coverage like the first years they covered it. If this got so popular, the major stations would buy the rights and show 2 hours on the weekend in a pop culture NASCAR like coverage.
what will the Only Lance Network do with no Lance?
Hope you all are VERY interested in bass fishing in backwater towns you’ve never wanted to know about.
Well maybe they can expand on the ESPN Nathans hotdog eating contest. It looked like they had 4 hours coverage of it this past weekend. And I thought Texas Hold Em poker was the best sport on the TV. My bad.
Some of you folks may not be old enough to remember TV coverage BL(before Lance) but the Tour has been convered by US TV every year since at least the early 80’s and it will be covered next year too.
It is highly unlikely that OLN would drop its coverage in the near future. The network has has spent a lot of effort identifying itself as the cycling network in the US and while they have fiddled with their coverage levels, they have shown no signs of completely abandoning this market. And – even if they do give up/lose the rights, ESPN and ABC would pick up the rights again in a heartbeat.
Fear not – we’ll be able to watch the Tour next summer. It may be reduced to a 2 hour daily show and a weekend summary on a major network but it will be on TV in the US even after Lance, just as it was before he came along.
Whether it stays on OLN or not, the Tour will still be covered in the states. First, Discovery Channel being the title sponsor for a team and their enormous channel line-up, they’ll do it themselves if they have to. But there are also some new and compelling young US riders in cycling and they have garnered some coverage of their own. Now continuing coverage of the classics and the other tours is more of a longshot.