Paris-Nice on Versus TV

by Jen See on Mar 4, 2011 12:37 PM EST in News

The 2011 edition of Paris-Nice starts this Sunday with a road stage in Houdan. The race runs eight stages and concludes with the traditional finish over the Col d'Eze in Nice. There is one time trial, a 27 kilometer romp in Aix-en-Provence on Friday. Here in the United States, Versus will cover the race daily in HD. They will not offer live stream. Instead, the race will appear on real television each day.

A reliable source has told me that the viewer numbers for Paris-Nice could have a significant influence on decisions about how much cycling the network covers in the future and in what formats. Apparently, the numbers for the live streaming coverage of the Tour of Qatar were pretty dismal. Like, I think maybe only the Cafe and the riders' moms watched the race? And maybe only just some of the moms? I don't have too many details on this side of the story, unfortunately. Podium Cafe requested comment from the Versus network, but no one responded. I did get the impression that if we want to see bike racing here in the United States on television, it would be a good idea to show up for Paris-Nice. If you have a spare moment, you might also drop the people at Versus an email telling them that you liked the coverage and want more. More is better!

From the press release:

VERSUS will air extensive coverage of the 2011 Paris-Nice, an eight-day, 800-mile cycling competition beginning in Houdan, a town outside of Paris, and finishing in Nice. The network will air all eight stages beginning with two-hours of coverage on Sunday, March 6, at 4 p.m. ET. The 2011 Paris-Nice marks the first time that VERSUS will provide full HD coverage of the race.

Here is the current schedule for coverage:

Sunday, March 6, 4pm ET: Stage 1, Houdan
Monday, March 7, 4pm ET: Stage 2, Montfort-l’Amaury to Amilly
Tuesday, March 8, 4pm ET: Stage 3, Cosne-sur-Loire to Nuits-Saint-Georges
Wednesday, March 9, 4pm ET: Stage 4, Crêches-sur-Saône to Belleville
Thursday, March 10, 4pm ET: Stage 5, Saint-Symphorien to Vernoux-en-Vivarais
Friday, March 11, 4pm ET: Stage 6, Rognes to Aix-en-Provence ITT
Saturday, March 12, 2pm ET: Stage 7, Brignoles to Biot
Sunday, March 13, 4pm ET: Stage 8, Nice, Col d'Eze!

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Comments

and Eurosport is covering in Europe

Four fairly bumpy stages …. but no mountain top finishes …. a little disappointed in course.

And my usual rant, all the climb ratings should be reduced 1 or 2 notches.

moo

by Willj on Mar 4, 2011 12:42 PM EST reply actions

ya know, LIVE coverage would help.

"Wizard's first rule. People are stupid. They will believe anything they want to be true or fear to be true." -- Terry Goodkind

by umwolverine on Mar 4, 2011 12:51 PM EST reply actions

ja

I prefer it live too. And ideally streaming. But more money in delayed tv.

by Jen See on Mar 4, 2011 12:52 PM EST up reply actions

But that would interupt fishin

Which, as you know is live too. Errr, wait…

by JustJoshinYa on Mar 4, 2011 1:34 PM EST up reply actions

No shit

I’m probably not going to go out of my way to watch something that ended five hours before the coverage starts. It’s the middle of the frikkin afternoon in Cali.

"It was getting colder and colder as we went up. About halfway up, I started to go a little backwards and as I passed Thor he looked at me and said, "If you lose my wheel I will smash you." I took his wheel and found an extra gear." João Correia

by jsallee00 on Mar 4, 2011 1:36 PM EST up reply actions

Do all yer work in AM.....Take a late lunch...watch the race

Soli Deo Gloria

by LooseHorse on Mar 4, 2011 2:29 PM EST up reply actions

I guess more to the point

If this is a test balloon to see if people will watch cycling, it’s already pretty biased. If you want a real test, then show the race live.

by jsallee00 on Mar 4, 2011 3:01 PM EST up reply actions

yeah, like they use to. last live paris-nice coverage on oln was 2004.

"Wizard's first rule. People are stupid. They will believe anything they want to be true or fear to be true." -- Terry Goodkind

by umwolverine on Mar 4, 2011 4:44 PM EST up reply actions

Or you could record it

There’s these things called Tio, DVR and even an ancient technology called DVD or VCR.
Just sayin’

by Chief42 on Mar 4, 2011 8:25 PM EST up reply actions

for that matter

I could read last weeks newspaper. This isn’t literature or cinema for which timing isn’t as important. Why would I wait several hours to watch something I can watch live elsewhere?

by jsallee00 on Mar 5, 2011 4:39 AM EST up reply actions

If none of us are currently filling out little Nielsen books, where we watch isn't going to matter.

What might help is emailing VS to tell them we’re watching and want to see more.

I yearn for the cobbles--Edvald Boasson Hagen

by majope on Mar 4, 2011 12:53 PM EST reply actions

yes, this also is a good idea.

by Jen See on Mar 4, 2011 12:59 PM EST up reply actions

The Tour of Qatar is a pretty

poor litmus test for cycling viewership. That would be like Fox pulling the plug on the World Series coverage because no one watched the Red Sox and Twins play each other 13 times in spring training.

For those not familiar, the Twins and Sox have their winter training camps in Ft Meyers FLA and it seems like 2/3 of the Red Sox spring games are against the Twins.

"It's crazy. In Belgium they would have stopped the train"
-Peter Van Petegem, April 2006-

by Mr Van P on Mar 4, 2011 1:20 PM EST reply actions

Makes me feel just a little pathetic that I watched every stage...

I yearn for the cobbles--Edvald Boasson Hagen

by majope on Mar 4, 2011 1:26 PM EST up reply actions

Nobody thinks your pathetic Majope

as far as you know…

"It's crazy. In Belgium they would have stopped the train"
-Peter Van Petegem, April 2006-

by Mr Van P on Mar 4, 2011 1:50 PM EST up reply actions

it's that sense of community, majope.

"Wizard's first rule. People are stupid. They will believe anything they want to be true or fear to be true." -- Terry Goodkind

by umwolverine on Mar 4, 2011 4:44 PM EST up reply actions

Not pathetic - you were studying for the final VDS exam.

by JustJoshinYa on Mar 4, 2011 4:52 PM EST up reply actions

True

Except the numbers I heard were like, gah, really, no one watched that thing. Except Majope.

by Jen See on Mar 4, 2011 1:29 PM EST up reply actions

I just can't stand staring at sand for an hour. I know I will be flamed for saying this but I hate the beach.

by JustJoshinYa on Mar 4, 2011 1:35 PM EST up reply actions

I didn't know you knew her

oh wait…

by jsallee00 on Mar 4, 2011 1:38 PM EST up reply actions

:P

by JustJoshinYa on Mar 4, 2011 1:48 PM EST up reply actions

nice

"Ants don’t worry, they operate like a fantastic team, they accept obstacles and deal with them in a positive manner, they don’t complain and remain positive. An ant doesn’t work on emotion, is proactive and always chooses the ant role."

by ant1 on Mar 4, 2011 3:51 PM EST up reply actions

yeah, I am dragged to the beach by

family kicking and screaming in most cases. How do you possible keep a bottle of Chimay cold while baking in the sun…

For swimming, I love a good pond or river.

"It's crazy. In Belgium they would have stopped the train"
-Peter Van Petegem, April 2006-

by Mr Van P on Mar 4, 2011 1:52 PM EST up reply actions

wrap it in a wet towel

the evaporation will cool the beer.

by ant1 on Mar 4, 2011 3:52 PM EST up reply actions

[shakes head in sorrowful disbelief]

oh wait, east coast, crowds, tea-colored piss-warm water and black flies? Yeah, I can give that sort of beach a miss, too.

"dumped for Greipel?!"

by JFS_PGH on Mar 4, 2011 3:18 PM EST up reply actions

and seaweed that would choke a whale.

Very cold water off of Cape Cod too.

"It's crazy. In Belgium they would have stopped the train"
-Peter Van Petegem, April 2006-

by Mr Van P on Mar 4, 2011 3:30 PM EST up reply actions

Plus, nothing worse then looking at pasty white northeasterners all day getting sunburns and smoking cigarettes.

(says a pasty white non-smoking northeasterner)

by JustJoshinYa on Mar 4, 2011 4:54 PM EST up reply actions

Rock Rock

Rockaway Beach!

If cobble delusions are wrong, who wants to be right? -JFS PGH

by Chris Fontecchio on Mar 4, 2011 4:55 PM EST up reply actions

This seems the right response

If Versus is saying it is making decisions based on Tour of Qatar viewership, then that means they already made a decision and are merely trying to justify it.

FTR, I do not see how Versus will stay in the cycling broadcast business in that it dreams of bigger things (in the US sense) now. Especially since Comcast took over.

by BTD on Mar 4, 2011 2:15 PM EST up reply actions

While I am happy for coverage...

most people are working at 4pm ET.

by JustJoshinYa on Mar 4, 2011 1:37 PM EST reply actions

That's why they created the DVR

It’s already delayed, why not delay it a bit more.

by VirtKitty on Mar 4, 2011 3:44 PM EST up reply actions

Oh I will just turn it on the background - but my beef is if they claim it's a fair test of the interest.

Why not just put it on at 4am. It’s just as stupid a timeslot. They are targeting it to fail.

by JustJoshinYa on Mar 4, 2011 4:51 PM EST up reply actions

So is this the no LA test?

Qatar must have paid Versus to broadcast the stuff live. If you are looking to scare people away from looking at cycling, Tour of Qatar is the perfect choice. The race makes TdU look like a mini Giro.

by Uphill on Mar 4, 2011 1:48 PM EST reply actions

It's not that bad

it has echelons.

by William H on Mar 4, 2011 1:53 PM EST up reply actions

heh.

and I wished the riders would have taken one of the roundabouts 30 times around. That would have been a nice pattern too.

by Uphill on Mar 4, 2011 2:02 PM EST up reply actions

That's a hell of a timespot.

I’d love to get out of work and class to watch the delayed coverage but I don’t think will happen.

And I don’t have cable because a few years back I decided I had a better chance of watching cycling on the interwebs than on TV.

by brunop on Mar 4, 2011 2:00 PM EST reply actions

+1, to the letter

by FrenchKheldar on Mar 4, 2011 4:28 PM EST up reply actions

more, please.

VS & NBCUniv are part of the same corporate family now. Hopefully we’ll be seeing more cycling on VS in areas that don’t get Universal Sports from local NBC O&O. Live would be best, of course.

by cmec on Mar 4, 2011 2:05 PM EST reply actions

I think the reverse

I think Universal gets all the cycling eventually.

by BTD on Mar 4, 2011 2:16 PM EST up reply actions

Makes sense

Cycling has never seemed to fit at Vesus. I’m glad they’ve carried it, but Universal looks more like the NBC dumping ground for all the “niche sports” in the eyes of the stick-and-ball world. And since I get Universal, I don’t mind.

If cobble delusions are wrong, who wants to be right? -JFS PGH

by Chris Fontecchio on Mar 4, 2011 4:57 PM EST up reply actions

universal

Far fewer ads for rodeos and cage fights.

by jsallee00 on Mar 4, 2011 6:37 PM EST via mobile up reply actions

True, but the Universal site navigation is dreadful

I’ll put up with a bullfighting ad if I can get to my freakin library without having to log in three times at universal. Why do they make it so difficult?

by Odette on Mar 4, 2011 8:38 PM EST up reply actions

you can't be serious? more cycling on versus? ha.

and, i don’t deal with universal sports. can’t stand the commentators.

"Wizard's first rule. People are stupid. They will believe anything they want to be true or fear to be true." -- Terry Goodkind

by umwolverine on Mar 4, 2011 4:47 PM EST up reply actions

Sweeeeet news....I'l be watching ( or taping ) every day. [Gotta get a 'peloton fix' somehow]

Also watched Qatar…….good 1st impression of the place.
Usually VS replays the cycling later at night…they did for ‘Guitar’
Will also be sending some E-mails….

Soli Deo Gloria

by LooseHorse on Mar 4, 2011 2:21 PM EST reply actions

currently the versus schedule only has the one showing of the paris-nice stages.

"Wizard's first rule. People are stupid. They will believe anything they want to be true or fear to be true." -- Terry Goodkind

by umwolverine on Mar 4, 2011 4:47 PM EST up reply actions

will we be able to look at it afterwards on the VS website?

They’ll see if we do that, it’s hits, not Nielsen boxes.

"dumped for Greipel?!"

by JFS_PGH on Mar 4, 2011 3:20 PM EST reply actions

haven't seen anything about that yet. prob won't know until monday.

"Wizard's first rule. People are stupid. They will believe anything they want to be true or fear to be true." -- Terry Goodkind

by umwolverine on Mar 4, 2011 4:50 PM EST up reply actions

Getting to see France in HD is nice

agree with other, ToQ is a horrible race to see how much interest there is in cycling. Starts too early, nobody knows of it and it is terribly boring visually.

It's Timofey MOZGOD time
Ujiri for MVE
GALLO!!!

by Phil H. on Mar 4, 2011 4:14 PM EST reply actions

But the Tour of Qatar has so much history ....

moo

by Willj on Mar 4, 2011 4:21 PM EST up reply actions

Well GHH has won several times there

so that is true

It's Timofey MOZGOD time
Ujiri for MVE
GALLO!!!

by Phil H. on Mar 4, 2011 5:03 PM EST up reply actions

The Qatarians (is that what they are called) don't even watch the Tour of Qatar.

I did watch a little of the delayed coverage of the race and there were like 5 people standing by the road in Qatar. I think 4 of them were security. (Sorry I am prone to exaggeration but ya get my point)

If I am not a big cycling fan already in the US and I watch a race with no spectators, to me, that is a signal that it’s no fun to watch so I turn on bull riding instead – at least that has fans watching.

by JustJoshinYa on Mar 4, 2011 4:49 PM EST up reply actions

Bull riding FTW YALL

will the Qatari’s(thank you wiki) actually go and watch the WC?

It's Timofey MOZGOD time
Ujiri for MVE
GALLO!!!

by Phil H. on Mar 4, 2011 5:02 PM EST up reply actions

That SOOO depresses me that they are bidding for the WC. Richmond NEEDS to win it!

by JustJoshinYa on Mar 4, 2011 5:04 PM EST up reply actions

Oops

meant Footy WC. But that is indeed very true

It's Timofey MOZGOD time
Ujiri for MVE
GALLO!!!

by Phil H. on Mar 4, 2011 5:07 PM EST up reply actions

But footy's being outsourced to other locales, isn't it?

by JustJoshinYa on Mar 4, 2011 5:10 PM EST up reply actions

no, the latest says Qatar will do everything themselves at summer (45'C)

by Uphill on Mar 4, 2011 5:17 PM EST up reply actions

They are going to have like 6 stadiums in Doha

it’s going to be ridiculous

It's Timofey MOZGOD time
Ujiri for MVE
GALLO!!!

by Phil H. on Mar 4, 2011 5:18 PM EST up reply actions

at least the 600 local fans have some choices

by Uphill on Mar 4, 2011 5:43 PM EST up reply actions

oh, btw, versus, more people might have watched the qatar live streaming if the site was a tad more user friendly.

"Wizard's first rule. People are stupid. They will believe anything they want to be true or fear to be true." -- Terry Goodkind

by umwolverine on Mar 4, 2011 4:50 PM EST reply actions

+ 1

I tuned into a pirated feed because it took me more than 30 seconds to find the Versus feed, and it took me about 8 seconds to find another feed.

I picked Riccardo Ricco for my 2011 VDS team, and submitted said team well before the submission deadline. I fully understand the error of my ways, and plead with the VDS Gods to allow me to resubmit my team.

by PopUp Rolen on Mar 4, 2011 5:04 PM EST up reply actions

Some Perspective

I remember when the only cycling on TV was the weekend recap (taped) shows on CBS for the Tour. I remember watching the Tour de Trump at 4 p.m. ET on ESPN and the Tour DuPont at 1 a.m. ET.

My point is that if you want to support cycling, you’ll tune in or DVR it. It’s painfully clear there is likely to be less cycling on TV if the viewership on Versus continues to slide.

by Chief Commissaire on Mar 4, 2011 5:41 PM EST reply actions

Anyone reading this

is among the tuners-in, I’m guessing. The question is how does cycling grow its audience outside of the devoted fanbase?

If cobble delusions are wrong, who wants to be right? -JFS PGH

by Chris Fontecchio on Mar 4, 2011 6:46 PM EST up reply actions

Provide for more commoners to bicycle......

1) Tax break for biking to work….people that ride bikes – will watch bikes ( I did )
2) Raise gas prices so high – ya gotta ride to survive
3) More viewership opportunities in the States – i.e. T. de California, QPC in Colorado
4) Stop the L.A. investigation {or find Not-Guilty, sometime this century} – He increased viewership 10 fold in U.S.

Soli Deo Gloria

by LooseHorse on Mar 4, 2011 7:20 PM EST up reply actions

I'm pretty sure I read about a plan for naked cycling on inner ring the other day...

Not gonna post the link though. I am fairly sure it was a joke but I didn’t read it (I looked at the photos though)….Oops, I am supposed to say I did the opposite.

by JustJoshinYa on Mar 4, 2011 7:47 PM EST up reply actions

ja

And that makes it more difficult to sell to sponsors, if there isn’t tv coverage. Streaming video is only going to reach a niche audience. Real tv has a chance at catching at least some casual viewers.

by Jen See on Mar 6, 2011 10:19 PM EST up reply actions

I'd gladly watch their live streams if they didn't use proprietary tech...

…that doesn’t run on my computer.

Get rid of silverlight assholes.

by Ed K on Mar 4, 2011 8:00 PM EST reply actions

Also, ads every five seconds, and phil and paul.

Honestly I’d rather watch a crappy pirated eurosport feed. Give me a product that doesn’t suck enormously and I might buy / watch it.

by Ed K on Mar 4, 2011 8:02 PM EST up reply actions

+1

by jsallee00 on Mar 5, 2011 4:40 AM EST up reply actions

I'm having a lovely conversation with EuroSport over this issue with their Player

You would think this is 1998 by how they deal with these issues.

(They had an old version I subscribed too. In the middle of my subscription they “upgraded” to a non-mac compatible version. Wonderful.)

by Jens on Mar 5, 2011 6:28 AM EST up reply actions

Ah wait

It doesn’t work even though the latest Silverlight is available for Mac? (version 4.0.60129.0)

by tedvdw on Mar 5, 2011 6:34 AM EST up reply actions

Dutch broadcaster nos.nl has also gone silverlight but it works well on my Intel Mac.

by tedvdw on Mar 5, 2011 6:36 AM EST up reply actions

Apple PowerPC?

Linux has http://www.go-mono.com/moonlight/ which is supposed to be the same as Silverlight 2 but without DRM (meaning you can’t play DRM protected streams).

by tedvdw on Mar 5, 2011 6:32 AM EST up reply actions

I refuse to believe that more people watch cagefighting than cycling.

Really? So disturbing. #sadface#

by Odette on Mar 4, 2011 8:39 PM EST reply actions

What's a TV?

Seriously, I don’t have one and so all I can hope for is somehow to find it streaming. I haven’t had any luck with that since TDU.

Ice

"This is my Indian summer ... I'm far more dangerous now, because I don't care at all."

by Ice Nine on Mar 4, 2011 8:47 PM EST reply actions

Try steephill.tv or cyclingfans.com or bvls.eu

Learn a new language while watching racing…

by JustJoshinYa on Mar 4, 2011 10:50 PM EST up reply actions

Within 5 years

TV will have all but disappeared as a distinct medium. It will all be integrated with internet, it already comes down the same cable for many people.

I think this can only be good news minority programming.

The idea of selling content separately to local broadcasters will become obsolete. Technology makes georestriction impossible. The content providers will have to sort out issues with intellectual property and pirated feeds – but I think these are easier to sort out than for the music industry. Advertising inegrated into the source feed would be a simple solution – then just make the feed free to anyone who wants to promulgate it.

by straw dog on Mar 5, 2011 12:08 PM EST reply actions