Yeah, so I know OLN doesnt make a lot of money on cycling, its not worth it for them to show it, blah blah blah. But at the beginning of the year they trumpeted an entire season of cycling coverage, from Paris-Nice to Worlds. After the Tour de France, it all vanished. Does anyone know what happened to it? Is there any place cycling fans can watch Classica San Sebastian this weekend?
simple: No Lance = No TV.
It’s over.
Now what?
That didnt stop them from showing an entire season of Lance-free TV from March through June (ok, May, since June was all about “the road to the tour”). And they couldnt have expected him to ride anything post-Tour in March anyway.
I read somewhere OLN said all cycling shows except Le Tour “underperform”. Pretty much it costs them more to get the rights to broadcast the races than they make in advertising.
The OLN television schedule indicates that the Nature Valley Grandprix will be shown on both the 11 and 14 of September!
Hello Tom,
Unfortunately its No Lance = No ratings.
Styrrell
Not sure what’s going on, but they will show cycling as long as they are a sponsor of the Discovery team.
OLN doesn’t sponsor the Discovery team…
Id heard rumors that the Discovery Channel itself was going to be showing coverage next year. Maybe on a side channel (a Discover equivalent to ESPN 2).
As it turns out, Im the stupid one here. OLN’s initial press release said they would cover the spring classics and the three major tours. None of summer classics would be shown.
On a related note, I would like to say that Id be more than willing to buy products advertised during cycling if they werent tractors, ATVs, and weed-whackers.
That didnt stop them from showing an entire season of Lance-free TV from March through June (ok, May, since June was all about “the road to the tour”). And they couldnt have expected him to ride anything post-Tour in March anyway.
The spring coverage was just a format for them to promo their Tour coverage.
The Vuelta is scheduled for 9/18 on OLN.
Meanwhile, you have a great window of opportunity to start an all-cycling and tri network. Maybe Demerly will buy some ad time!
Who cares about cycling–I am totally into this BarBQue grill off!!
GetRDun!!
why do poeple think I was joking when I said OLN means the ‘Only Lance Network’?
OLN is a side channel of discovery.
Talk about a self-fulfilling prophecy though, make broadcasts that focus almost exclusively on Lance, and then imagine the surprise when everybody tunes out after Lance retires because they don’t know any other riders. I don’t get those guys, if they had chopped their Lance coverage in half they wouldn’t have lost a single viewer, and they could have used that time to build up Floyd, Levi, Chris, George, Bobby, Dave, etc.
So all in all, this is excellent news for cycling fans. OLN will return their license to ASO, and somebody else can get the rights for less money, maybe a small channel that gets cycling. Maybe Eurosport will finally start a digital channel Stateside.
I don’t think OLN is owned by Discovery. According to the Discovery website they own: Discovery channel, TLC, Discovery Health, Travel Channel, Discovery Times, Discovery Kids, BBC America, Science Channel, Military channel etc. No mention of OLN.
I believe Comcast owns OLN. They are about to get an NHL contract I believe.
Well, then maybe things will get worse instead of better, maybe Discovery will take over the broadcast and 90% of the focus will be on Discovery riders whether they are in Yellow or lying 64th. 
Don’t you know that Lance retired???
Im too young to remember this, but didnt OLN go from a small mid-western station to a national station by airing the Tour de France and getting bigger-city bikers to call up their cable station and request it?
And I know the whole “cycling doesnt get ratings” argument, but does rodeo? Hunting shows? The 19th airing of “Outdoor Investigations” this week? The constant showing of a reality TV show that was only good when you were wondering what the result would be?
BUt I gripe…I pay an extra $25 a month on my cable for nothing but cycling every Sunday (well, and the entire month of July). Id gladly go to digital TV or satellite (not the ultra-expensive one that gets any feed in the world) to get great cycling coverage.
Gerard-
Just out of curiousity, has Lance ever approached you on the side during the Tour,to make a comment about Cervelo bikes.
- did he say anything about the P3 CARBON?
For example:
LA- Hey G ! Your new P3c looks sweet! you know I wouldn’t mind taking that bad boy for a spin sometime.
G- Hey Lance thanks man! thats real big of you . I tell you what.I’ll Fedex you a P3c to Austin as an early Christmas gift. Don’t worry it’ll be on the DL.
He’s totally loyal to Trek, but at the same token, he’s still a bike guy.