> No more Lance so lots of Americans aren't watching any more:
>
> "Through the first four stages, viewership of OLN's live Tour coverage
> has tumbled 49 percent to 207,544 people. Combined viewership of the
> live show and its daily repeats has plunged by 47 percent to 749,472."
I suspect you'll see viewership trending upward from the first time-trial
(tomorrow morning, 7/8)-on. Let's face it, aside from the last 30 seconds,
things haven't been terribly exciting. Let's see now, is the small breakaway
going to be caught with 6km to go, or just 4? It's a foregone conclusion
that they'll be caught, it's a foregone conclusion that nobody's going to
get away for a dramatic stage win during the first week this year.
Once things break up a bit (post time-trial), it will be a far more exciting
race.
For what it's worth, my customers are having a difficult time understanding
why a breakaway has so much less chance of success now than it will after
tomorrow. The explanation is that, while the race is very tight virtually
from first to last place right now, anybody off in a break that succeeds is
likely to snag the yellow jersey... and thus they won't be allowed to. After
Saturday, it will be possible, even likely, that a dramatic stage victory
won't result in a massive reodering of the general classification (or the
awarding of the yellow jersey).
--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com
Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA
"wimpyVO2" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:
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> No more Lance so lots of Americans aren't watching any more:
>
> "Through the first four stages, viewership of OLN's live Tour coverage
> has tumbled 49 percent to 207,544 people. Combined viewership of the
> live show and its daily repeats has plunged by 47 percent to 749,472."
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/07/sports/othersports/07sandomir.html?
>
> NY Times, registration required.
>
> That's a steep drop in ratings. Steep enough that OLN will probably
> drop cycling and focus on bulls and fish fulltime.
>