My guess is Simon and Mia want GCN to become profitable ASAP after buying it back. They saw the app and website as too much work and trimmable fat to the point where they’d rather stick the docs on YouTube and do the math on a 30% fee on subscriptions staying with Google. So being in a hurry + 30% = more expensive than streaming giants. In this case the stream is taking the piss.
In the process a good number of people lost their jobs but hey, they gotta do what they gotta do.
Manon is leaving GCN.
I thought she was a good presenter and enjoyed the shows and challenges she was on. She also brought some diversity of experience (eg track) and gender, handling the female-specific topics that males should also be aware of to help everyone enjoy the sport. I hope GCN actively looks to fill her position with someone similarly qualified.
Manon is showing up as a presenter in the Eurosport coverage of the Tour de France fems
Hate to start a new thread since this is just a guess, but I just read that Fubo and Disney/Hulu/Espn have entered into an agreement. Wonder if this means more ways to watch racing in the future? Fubo combining with Disney's Hulu + Live TV | AP News
(Chad - if I picked the wrong thread, feel free to move this!)
Disaster for UK pro cycling fans:
£30.99 vs £6.99 currently. 
Not paying that, except perhaps for 1 month for the TdF only. 
⠀
The broadcaster was keen to highlight its hope that it can create new cycling fans by airing races on channels adjacent to bigger sporting events, such as Premier League football matches, albeit those viewers would still need to have bought a subscription to see it.
Hilarious, that’ll work. 
So, UK viewing numbers for pro cycling will crater further, with barely a handful of people watching in the future.
That is the dumbest logic I have ever heard…wow.
Well I’m sure Eurosport have a lot of customers already, but no I won’t be joining them
Big increase but still worth it.
Don’t mock that plan. My idiot brother caught some of the TdF coverage while waiting for a NASCAR event broadcast and was transfixed by it. He even watched some of the other coverage that year. He even called me to say that it was amazing to watch so many cyclists riding so fast for so long. (Well, what do you think they would be doing) But I was playing nice, and said that lots of people ride like that, echelon style, and it is a very amazing feeling (when it works).
I’m sure that it gave a different viewpoint for people that did catch the broadcasts. (Even my other brother caught some of it)
Will it make for life long viewers? Obviously, and tragically not, as broadcasting bike races in general is such a black hole. Sure, you can catch some isolated events occasionally, but there is no broadcast industry belief that broadcasting those events benefits viewers, and could lead to a larger bottom line. That last point being the most important obviously.
Thanks for posting the price difference.
I have some choices to mak. That’s a steep increase.
Not for me. I could afford it no problem but I quite often just have it on in the back ground and even in races I’m interested in (tdf etc) I’ll only really zone in towards the last 5-10mins. For me its not worth it!
Wait and see what happens when the change actually happens, but I’m slightly miffed, subscrive to Sky mainly to get the F1, Eurosport with with Paramount+ included made it ok as watch a lot of cycling/biathlon and climbing, so now I’m paying a lot for just the F1, and not going to pay SKY for the F1 and TNT a additional 32 for the cycling
I’m in the USA and was watching Discovery+ using a vpn. That worked for a year but now I’m canceling my account due to the almost 4x price increase.
This sucks.
On the escape collective comments, someone (from Aussie it seems), has talked about two work arounds.
"1. Connect my NordVPN to Singapore, and take up a StayLive.io subscription (9AUD a month). It’s got everything aside from ASO races. I already had an Aussie-based subscription with StayLive, and didn’t even need to create a new account: just setup VPN and buy a monthly sub. Did some test streaming last night and it worked a treat.
2. I also tested creating an Italian-based AppleID whilst connected to Italy, and downloaded the Eurosport App. Created a log in and although my Italian isn’t great, I could work out what I was doing. Again, streaming worked well, and would cost about 11AUD a month."
I have to think this will throttle down viewership to a large degree. If this sample (taken from uber bike nerds on a bike training forum) has a high percentage saying “I’m not paying that”, I can only guess the marginal fan will disappear altogether. I’m in the US, our options are terrible here too.
Ultimately this has to be a commercial decision by WBD. If we leave aside their PR/spin BS about attracting new fans by putting it on after soccer for the errant nonsense that it is, then purely from a subscription point, they need to convert 1 out of 4 ish current subscribers to the new package cost for it to be viable. As you say, based on the reaction of this forum, this seems a stretch. I’m fortunate in that I’m in Europe and am able to watch most races live, mostly in full if I want to, and even then I’m seriously thinking about the whole thing’s value. They’ll get six months a year max out of me if I do subscribe.
Given all that, maybe the cost of running/maintaining separate Eurosport channels/platforms etc is a lot higher than I would have thought? I have no idea, but it must be a factor in their decision.
In any case, the whole thing sucks, and the new dawn of cycling TV that GCN+ brought about seems to be something we’ll now ultimately regard as a historical blip. It was fun whilst it lasted.
I’m kinda in this boat the more I reflect on it - however the full app including all sport isn’t even available in Ireland (yet) anyway. I already have Sports Extra on NowTV, for €15 a month, which I presume may have the big races live (it’s only TNT 1-4 though). €15+€6.99 is still a fair bit of the TNT subscription even if they make it available.
For moving wallpaper, I think youtube of classic races will be my thing!
So would it now be better for UK people to get flobike and vpn to canada? Thats the best US option, no?
Paying the extra money to watch isn’t a problem but more of a principle thing. The previous price structure seemed fair and I was happy with what I got, but over the course of the year it’s more than what I pay for my mobile phone a month and more than my car insurance.
Also, I don’t want to pay to watch other sports, I would rather have a cycling only option.