Who else is excited for GCN+?

Really curious how it turns out to be. They published a little promo video:

Apparently it’s gonna be a bunch of cycling documentaries and whatnot (on top of all the live racing they already offered with race pass last year). I’m a big Mark Beaumont fan and apparently they have movies about his 78 days world cycle and his Africa adventure. Super excited for that. I have a racepass anyway so for me it’s a no*brainer to get GCN+. Also I reached a stage in my life, where I rather pay money than watch “sponsored content” :yum:
What do you guys think about it? I guess it’s a bit less worth for americans for the lack of live racing licenses?!

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I have relatively little interest in the documentaries, but (as discussed in the FloBikes thread Anyone subscribe to Flobikes? - #157 by trpnhntr) I think the race rights they have in the US makes it a real bargain. So I’m 100% in for $25 just for the races. I’ll probably process the docs on the trainer

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I can neither confirm nor deny that Americans with an effective VPN that allows them to choose their country can watch anything they please on GCN+.

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Although I do watch GCN videos, it seems like the corporate monster has gotten hold of them, screaming more more more to a point of which the quality is suffering a bit

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I miss the GCN videos. Last one I liked and watched fully was when they were in France and had a small budget to get a bike and then do things like bunny hops and other fun stuff.

That really is my demarc for them. Really only liked Si and Matt too.

I don’t watch anything cycling related regularly on YT anymore.

It’s not for me.

I bought the NBC Sports Gold cycling pass last fall in an effort to get me riding my bike again. I’ve not watched any race on it.

I just read a bit on Reddit a out the bigger races and that’s enough.

I hope this new venture works, and people enjoy it.

I like GCN’s longer feature videos, so the documentaries look interesting to me. Then throw in some racing coverage as well, and all of it for $29.99 CAD for the year, and I’ll certainly try it. Plus I have a good VPN.

Realistically, $29.99 for a year in the scope of my trainer, bike, gear, TR and Zwift subscriptions, not to mention Music, Netlfix, Amazon Prime, Disney, regular cable, etc, this looks really cheap.

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I enjoy a good amount of their videos and for $24.99 I’ll give the films a try. Will give me something to watch on the trainer.

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Oh that’s for sure. The days of the charming wonky little yt channel are long gone I’m afraid. I think Discovery said they bought GCN because they want to be the dominant global entity for cycling.
And I agree that some videos were barely watchable, because they were basically long form commercials.
So my hope is with this paid-for content, that they focus on content, pleasing the audience, rather than pleasing sponsors.
It’s general wisdom in our day and age I think. If you pay for a product you are the customer, if it’s free content you are the product.

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Love it :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

Loved the race coverage last year so looing forward to that again this year
And now the documentaries … great :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

Pretty sure they are actually owned by Play Sports and youtube, so the corporate monster had them from the start.

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Current GCN Race Pass subscriber here and have been since the start. Part of the beta programme also so had early access to the web-based viewer also which has been great. Not sure if this is released wider now?

GCN+ looks like it has some good additions to it so I’m happy. I was lucky enough to get the initial introductory price originally so assume renewal will be at full price although I could re-sign up again to access the intro offer…

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I’ve had the web player for 6 months or more, I don’t know if its still in Beta but other than the first month its been very stable :+1:

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I have to say I am excited, the type of content they are looking to show really is what I like to consume. So a sort of a mix of Cycling Tips site, Cyclist magazine and also Dropped magazine with a splash of humour. I have eurosport via sky for the racing but nice to know the app has the on demand stuff too.

£20 intro offer is a no brainer really. Can you watch it through a smart tv?

The below image is on their site. And when I run it from my laptop, the Chromecast option is available for the AUS races they just had today. Not sure about the rest.


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If you already have the race pass then is this:

  • simply an upgrade in experience?
  • or is there a price delta to pay?

I’m assuming race pass effectively ‘dies’ when GCN+ is implemented?

Upgrade, your race pass becomes GCN+

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I think from memory of watching the promo video the race pass users will be automatically upgraded. Not 100% on that though.

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As a US subscriber I think it’s worth a shot for $25. I’ve paid more than that for one cycling VHS tape in years past. Depending on how many races are really shown and the quality of the documentary content, I can make a long term decision when the price goes up next year.

$25, even if that’s half price and in 2022 it’ll be $50, seems like a bargain. I’d pay that just for TdF.

I’ll subscribe now, as I’m positive I’ll get at least $25 worth from it this year. Then as the list of what is and is not viewable in the US grows, will decide again for 2022.

Can anyone comment on the 2020 experience as far as ad’s go? I had NBC-Gold a year or two, and loved the low number of ad’s. Then you could watch the same NBC coverage for some stages on free to air NBC, but it was just non-stop ad’s and a total waste of time. Does GCN+ have ads during the TdF for example? Like a reasonable number, or just a complete assault of marketing?

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Just joined up.

Checking what I’ll be able to watch, and looking at how much need there is for VPN.

USA: 26 June 2021 - 18 July 2021: Tour de France (Highlights)
UK: 26 June 2021 - 18 July 2021: Tour de France (Live & on demand | Highlights)

There were a few good races for USA, although some like Pari-Roubaix were just highlights. For $25, it seems totally fair, but if you’re still wanting to watch full stages, then you’re either going to have to VPN it or subscribe to a second service (NBC-Gold for it’s last year?).

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