Versus (OLN) deleted all 2007 TDF rewinds



Cobblestones said:
Can't see the link. I seem to remember quite clearly that last year's result was down by almost 1/2 compared to 2005. And then I read that this year's was even lower in the start than last year's. Either viewership recovered during the 3 weeks or the initial reports were wrong.
Link requires login. :mad: I got it off google news. There are a bunch of similar stories from other sources.

From memory, the total viewership numbers this year were 20.5 million. The were 18.x million last year, and 20.4 mil in 2005. Versus' online site also experienced significant traffic growth for the Tour.
 
Klodifan said:
I disagree, doc.

if this is any indication, the tour will be shown next year.

http://www.versus.com/nw/article/view/40349/?tf=OLNPressCenter_articles.tpl&UserDef=true
agreeden--they'll show it. Fortunately the event takes place in July which is nothing but reruns on network telly (except for the bad reality telly or the one good one....anything Gordon Ramsay is doing :))

if not we can shell out the £, $, or € for eurosport, TV2 Danmark, or cycling.tv and watch it online.
 
Bro Deal said:
Link requires login. :mad: I got it off google news. There are a bunch of similar stories from other sources.

From memory, the total viewership numbers this year were 20.5 million. The were 18.x million last year, and 20.4 mil in 2005. Versus' online site also experienced significant traffic growth for the Tour.
Whoa, 20.5m is a big chunk. I would never have thought so many were watching. And the drop last year wasn't so bad as I remembered after all. Hm.
 
Cobblestones said:
Whoa, 20.5m is a big chunk. I would never have thought so many were watching. And the drop last year wasn't so bad as I remembered after all. Hm.
I think they count total numbers through the whole Tour, and I am not sure if they are unique or if they just add each day's total together. What we can probably count on is that Versus will continue to broadcast the Tour. I was surprised since I was thinking that next year coverage would be cut down.

Now if only they would expand their Giro and Vuelta coverage back to what it used to be...
 
limerickman said:
So will the Stateside fan get any terrestrial channel coverage of cycling next year????????

Unlikely. We'll be launched back into the pre-Lemond era of cycling coverage. At least we have the internet now!
 
meehs said:
Unlikely. We'll be launched back into the pre-Lemond era of cycling coverage. At least we have the internet now!

Good.

Although I am sure you'd prefer TV coverage as opposed to internet TV coverage.
(if you know what I mean!)
 
meehs said:
Unlikely. We'll be launched back into the pre-Lemond era of cycling coverage. At least we have the internet now!
I don't see that there is any way that Versus will give up the Tour if their press release about the viewership is correct. The cable market is just so competitive. It's really hard for cable channels to find something to pull in viewers. My bet is that we'll get the same nine to eleven hours of coverage per day that we got this year.
 
Bro Deal said:
I don't see that there is any way that Versus will give up the Tour if their press release about the viewership is correct. The cable market is just so competitive. It's really hard for cable channels to find something to pull in viewers. My bet is that we'll get the same nine to eleven hours of coverage per day that we got this year.

I didn't know that Versus was pulling in such good ratings for their TdF coverage. That's good news! I just hope the 2008 TdF is more worthy of the coverage than the 2007 fiasco. Anyway, hopefully they'll continue with their coverage. I hope that we get their regular Sunday coverage of other races during the season too.
 
It's quite possible the Vs broadcast contract required them to delete all footage after the Tour. Other companies may pay money for publishing rights for DVD's and such.
 
waxbytes said:
It's quite possible the Vs broadcast contract required them to delete all footage after the Tour. Other companies may pay money for publishing rights for DVD's and such.
Not likely at all.

This policy change was new this year only. Versus has waived goodbye to cycling as a marketing platform. Accept it.

As Lance & Nike go---so too does US-based media.

No US TV TDF coverage in 2008 is the only reasonable prediction.
 
meehs said:
Unlikely. We'll be launched back into the pre-Lemond era of cycling coverage. At least we have the internet now!

Actually, the Lemond era was tape delayed on CBS. Remeber the annoying Jon Tesch music? It was only in the LA era that we had "live" coverage, hell even the 1996 Olympic Road Race was tape-delayed.
 
Please, please, no LeMond/7-Eleven era, CBS style cycling coverage with the Yanni and John Tesh music ever again! It was crazy horrible! It had some of the worst one-liners and fred-like comments about cycling ever to have been heard, all with the crappy zen music overwhelming every scene. But it was the only cycling on TV on this side of the Atlantic at the time so I watched and taped every TdF, Paris-Roubaix.....still squirm whenever I watch those old VHS tapes (remember VHS tapes?). We've been spoiled in recent years with OLN/VS (not perfect but a hell of an improvement).
 
I did not see a link in this thread so is there anything that actually proves they "deleted" all of the footage? if so is there any proof that this is not something they do every year?
 
Doctor.House said:
Not likely at all.

This policy change was new this year only. Versus has waived goodbye to cycling as a marketing platform. Accept it.

As Lance & Nike go---so too does US-based media.

No US TV TDF coverage in 2008 is the only reasonable prediction.


You're a flippin' idiot.


Link to Versus cycling page: http://www.versus.com/tdf/


Also, Versus does not own the TdF video. Like Phil and Paul said, they are at the mercy of the French television cameras.
 
Doctor.House said:
Instead they will focus on Extreme Cage Fighting and female boxing!
At least for continuities sake it will still be sports rife with doping... is there any sport with athletes more doped than extreme fighters?
 
Look in a mirror.

What a freak.

Your jeresy is tainted too. Only Freds ride Treks (wrecks)

TrekDedicated said:
You're a flippin' idiot.


Link to Versus cycling page: http://www.versus.com/tdf/


Also, Versus does not own the TdF video. Like Phil and Paul said, they are at the mercy of the French television cameras.
 
wilmar13 said:
At least for continuities sake it will still be sports rife with doping... is there any sport with athletes more doped than extreme fighters?
How true.

Cow blood would help with endurance. (no time outs)
 
Doctor.House said:
Look in a mirror.

What a freak.

Your jeresy is tainted too. Only Freds ride Treks (wrecks)

Actually, I'm quite attractive. I'm sorry if the mirror is unkind to you.


Read my signature, or does that take too much effort on your part?