I have no problem logging in, even if it takes a long time during the big races. I don’t care about that. I have no issues with their user interface. I don’t care about that. I like that they pay attention to us and monitor this site and respond to our gripes and questions. And my snarky sounding comments are not personal attacks or cheap shots. If anyone at CTV feels insulted, then I apologize. Not my intent. I absolutely adore that you provide the service that you provide, but I am a paying customer and I want my moneys worth. I just want the feed to stop freezing up at key moments, like right at the end of the race. That is frustrating beyond words.

I can accept technical issues. I work in IT and believe me when I say that I understand that things don’t always work as you would hope, or as you build them to work. This issue is clearly not a user issue, or related to configurations on my PC. The issue is a server side or bandwidth issue, or both, which gets worse when more people log in at the end of a race. Or on a big race day, like the Ronde. It is not my ISP throttling down my feed. I am in California. Others experiencing the same issue at the same exact time are thousands of miles away from me.

My advice is that you guys stop working on the new site redesign and focus all your resources on the real issue, which is why the feed freezes up.

crashdan!
I’ve been a stubborn customer since the beginning, I was thrilled to have a chance to watch many races live at ctv.
But after almost 3 years, the same problems still continues, it’s very hard to get logged in, multiple windows open up, (which slow down at least my computer), repeatedly buffering on the higher kb’s, no matter what computer I use or how fast my feed is.
And way too often the feed simply frozes during the final k’s, just as it has done from the start, and that is the most annoying point, I’d be ok having some problems during the race but not at the final k’s…. VERY ANNOYING!
Stupid me, I have kept on subscribing, since I do hope they get it together some day.
Giro is not on CTV for us here in Europe, thank god we have other choises for live feed (for free, which happen to work very well, go figure…).
If you want our money, show that you are worth it! Otherwise send it for free.
I can say that 90% of times during these years paying for CTV I’ve had problems. And that’s a very ugly number.

I enjoyed reading the links posted in today’s live thread. This is my third year as a cycling tv subscriber. I used to be a happy customer, now I just feel like an addict. That is to say, I’d keep paying even for the craptastic service they have provided this year along with the price increase.

I completely missed the entire Het Volk. I was not able to log in. I had to wait a LONG time to get into Flanders, didn’t connect until the Koppenberg. Roubaix was difficult as well, but at least I was able to get in before the Arrenberg. I had a relatively easy time watching the Arrenberg classics.

Now with the Giro, there are still lags logging in. Yesterday the feed dropped in the last few KMs. Today it dropped at the end as well.

Here is the bottom line w/ Cycling.tv: they provide legal access and Anthony and Brian are the best commentator pair in the business. They have surpassed Phil and Paul.

However, the company has lost my confidence and faith. They simply are not committed to providing their customers with a positive experience. I resent the hell out of their service interruptions, login delays, and apparent indifference to resolving them. Bottom line: I am not getting what I am paying for.

Being able to watch races w/ breakfast is a dream come true. Remember reading the live tickers? Cycling TV is just not reliable.

Certainly the viewing experience is far worse than paying for the RAI feed through VS. in the past. Cutting out at the finish of a sprint stage is simply unacceptable. To be clear: *CYCLING TV IS FAILING EPICALLY

If anyone wants to watch cycle racing and has not yet paid for the cycling.tv service, you should understand that any moral qualms you have about torrenting the stage after the fact or getting the feed address and watching it in VLC have been washed away by Cycling.TV’s epic failure to provide their paying customers value. You are hereby absolved of all moral considerations from pirating their product. (Legal and Civil obligations may still apply).

So even though I paid for this year, and will likely pay again next year, y’all should understand that I’m a just a fool that way.

My main problem is that the feed crashes regularly during the race. I watch knowing that whatever feed I am on, other than the 100 feed, will crash sometime. I rarely even attempt the 1200 feed anymore because that crashes within a minute of two. For the 800, 400, and 256, they all crash at a regular rate, with the 256 being the most stable and deteriorating as you go up in bandwidth.

I rarely have any problems logging on anymore- this year. that seems mainly fixed now. I might not get on in a first attempt but usually its no problem.

I too would like explicit instructions on how to view Ctv, including a separate one for a Mac. As part of those instructions there should be something written about what to do with specific problems and what are the best settings including operating systems etc.

that’s needed to be said (from the consumer’s end, anyway) has been said.

~

Saw that Jump TV (C.TV’s parent) had their first quarter earnings call today. Two take aways, for me. First, that content distribution network that was being touted as the solution to all CTV feed problems? Up for sale. The other point? Jump TV sure knows a lot about burning through piles of cash. Good luck, guys.

I’m new to the subscription this year so I don’t have anger built up. For me, thus far, logging in has really been painless although I have signed in early as recommended for most races – and of course to watch Rebecca. I have a cable line at home and new laptop so I don’t have issues with the computer getting slower with more open windows. Compared to what I used to think was great on OLN for years, I am in LOVE with ctv as I’ve been able to watch “as-live” streams of older stuff, watch the track stuff which I don’t know anyone else that has, and I when I can’t sneak peeks from work, I love watching the as-live and highlight stuff on demand later.

With all that said, my one major complaint is the dropped and butchered feed later in the races. I usually watch at 1200 with great success up until those last 10-20 kms when others log on. Then it becomes a crap shoot of clicking between 1200-800-400 etc hoping it buffers back quickly so I can see it. So no matter how much I enjoy the on demand later, I AM paying for a service to WATCH it live. Losing it at key moments is frustrating to say the very least.

‘zactly. It’s the timing. It’s not like MY bandwidth is suddenly getting tight 10 K from the finish.

I’m reposting part of my historical review of Podium Cafe CTV posts here, because it links to various suggestions for OS and browser etc.

“When CTV started, people were about ready to wet themselves to have a streaming cycling feed, and people were feeling the love for the premium channel.

http://www.podiumcafe.com/2006/4/16/82738/2495

Since then, we have worked on, and worked out, a lot of problems with CTV’s help, and jumped through a lot of hoops. You can follow the course of improvements, and frustrations…and a LOT of hoop-jumping on our part.

2006: http://www.podiumcafe.com/2006/10/2/201357/076
2007: http://www.podiumcafe.com/2007/3/3/25956/65669
2007: http://www.podiumcafe.com/2007/6/14/9381/19416
2008: http://www.podiumcafe.com/2008/3/1/13719/07743

Where has the love gone? Well, for one thing, CTV has taken to strong-arming the silly little 1-inch feeds (silent or in estonian or urdu or I don’t know what). When you can’t provide reliable coverage beginning to end, you shouldn’t act like Microsoft. Unless and until you are darn-near infallible for all your subscribers, you ought to be putting links for those guys on your site as a backup option, not killing them dead outside of their home markets. You need to be a team player, not an arm-waver who cuts off the little guys just to watch them tumble.”

meant to say as much in the other thread.

I’ve subscribed for several years and am addicted. Increase your bandwidth!! It has frozen at the end of the race for the past two days. Perhaps the upgrade is to increase bandwith.

I’m never going to buy something from advertising on a site I’m paying $100 for the privilege to log into. Particularly not if those are banner adds that reload and shuffle on me sucking up that precious bandwidth that I’m trying to use to view the product I paid for.