Just registered only.
Wow. I’m glad you mentioned this. They have basically nothing tis year for people in the US. We’ve enjoyed the CX, but that is winding down. It looks like all they have are various UCI World Championships at the end of 2021. I’ll have to remember to not renew.
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They just may not have published their 2021 schedule yet…in the past, they have (for the US) carried all of the Classics except Roubaix and L-B-L, Strada Bianche, lots of the semi-classics (KBK, etc) and the Giro…and that just gets you to June.
What Power13 said.
I’m guessing they are waiting for an actual race calendar for 2021 to be published, as events are already getting cancelled.
If I remember correctly, in the US, Flobikes carries races run by:
- RCS
- Flanders Classics
- Plus others, but the above are the biggies
NBC Sports has rights to races run by:
- ASO - not just the tour, but all ASO
and FWIW as of January 1st Fubo Cycling disappeared from the lineup. So earlier this week I looked at Flobikes and it sure looks like rights haven’t been secured by either Flobikes or Fubo.
Ugh.
Why can’t cycling get its act together an offer a single package that could then be sold by multiple outlets of all races? I shouldn’t have to stitch together multiple services to see all of the races.
Honestly, in the US, with the exception of the Tour, their isn’t any US specific commentary.
In addition, I’d love the ability to have a “premium” package that would give me access to race radio and all of the cameras, not just the one the event TV producer decides to show. I hate it, hate it, hate it, when the event TV producer cuts away from action at the front to show a local country rider struggling who is no longer in contention. WTF.
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Out of all the commentators I really enjoyed listening to Matt Stephens a few months ago. I’d pay extra to not have to deal with VPNs to get a package where he is on the coverage team.
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Well, that is a good thing, honestly.
You won’t see any comprehensive package ever ebcause the rights are controlled by the organizers, not a central body (like the UCI). So each organizer is free to sell the rights to their races to whomever they wish.
Between Flo and NBCSports, I get everything I need…so ~$220 / year I think. Lord knows I have dropped that amount on dumber stuff in my life, and I get a full year’s worth of coverage (including not having to listen to Phil & Bob during the Tour).
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yeah verily
Why I totally get this, I think if the UCI was smarter / more savvy, you could create a “win win” for the race organizers, teams, UCI by shopping around a single package. Especially if you added in extras like:
- Access to race radio
- Access to all video feeds
- Access to team car radios - get rid of the question of keep or not keep team radios, just open them up
- Access to live power / hr / cadence / etc. for all athletes - riders / teams should have a choice: 1). if you are capturing this info, then it is available during / after the race for everyone; 2). don’t use this - that would mean no power meter on the bike, no hear rate monitor, etc.
In addition to UCI - this article says this:
For the coming 2021 season, FloBikes online access will also include steaming availability of the Tour de France.
The 2020 broadcast schedule included Strade Bianche, Milano-Sanremo, Critérium du Dauphiné, the Giro d’Italia, the Tour of Flanders, UCI road world championships, the Vuelta a España, the DVV Trofee Cyclocross Series, the Tour Down Under, Paris-Nice, Paris-Roubaix, Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne. Women’s WorldTour racing was also streamed, and viewers had access to view La Course by Le Tour de France and Madrid Challenge by La Vuelta.
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funny that i stumbled upon this thread. last summer i discovered and subscribed to fubo tv thanks to the fubo cycling channel. loved it and watched regularly. in late november once the season ended i canceled the cycling package to save a few dollars since there was no racing. this week i went to sign up again and the fubo cycling package is gone. just wiped clean from their lineup with no mention of it whatsoever (the link for the 2020 season is still up somewhere). I emailed fubo but havent gotten a response yet. in the meantime, i saw the news that flosports signed an exclusive license with the UCI and will have ALL race coverage for the next 4 years, including the events usually carried by NBCSN. today comes the news that NBCSN is folding
so…basically what i can gather is that if you live in north america (US specifically) and want to watch and dvr professional cycling to view at your leisure, you’re screwed. the only way to watch now is to subscribe to flosports at $170 or so per year, with an app that’s terrible (no way to try it, no way to dvr events) and isn’t even supported on my platform (nvidia shield tv). no more fubo cycling, no more nbcsn TDF with phil liggett, no more giro with matt stevens, all gone. i have emails into velonews and cycling daily (as well as fubo) to confirm my suspicions, but i think what i’m saying is accurate. very dark days ahead if you’re a fan of (easily) watching professional cycling…
also, my fubo tv subscription is suddenly worthless, as is my nbcsn gold pass, which they’re still taking subscriptions for somehow
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I had not heard about NBCSN folding…do you have a link?
You say that like it is a bad thing… 
Edit - found a link. It won’t shut down until the end of the year, so presumably any broadcast contracts are still in place. Also it notes that they will utilize USA Network and Peacock for some sports. I know Peacock had the Vuelta this year and also does the EPL games.
for a short list of World Championships:
Right now in the USA the Flobikes event list is showing “Unavailable in your area” for almost all non-UCI Championship events. For example:
or
Rather disappointing.
Re: NBCSN one article stated “Much of NBCSN’s sports programming will move to USA Network and to Peacock, the company’s new streaming service”
Still clear as mud…
this past summer in the USA in addition to events such as strada bianci fleche wallone etc on fubo cycling, we were able to watch the big three as follows: TDF - NBCSN; Giro d’Italia - Fubo Cycling; Vuelta - NBCSN/Olympic channel. now, from what i can gather, the flosports/uci deal means that fubo cycling is gone (not on their site or in any package), giro moves to flosports, tdf moves to flosports. this COULD be for just streaming rights, which means that nbcsn may still have broadcast rights to TDF and Vuelta, but where does giro go? strada? fleche? gent? as far as i know, fubo cycling was the only way to watch any of these via broadcast tv (albeit OTT) in the US, and it has fallen off of the face of the planet…
what i’d love to know is why we have to piece this together. where are the actual cycling news outlets to get to the bottom of it all!?! this is kind of a big deal
OK, hang on…some clarifiers.
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NBCSN is not shutting down until the end of year. Presumably any existing broadcast rights will continue for the immediate future.
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The Giro has been on FLO for a number of years.
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There is no indication that the TdF is moving to FLO in the US. FLO’s deal with the UCI is for UCI-organized events (i.e. World Championships, etc), NOT races put on by other organizers.
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Strada Bianche, MSR, Flanders and basically any classic except those organized by the ASO have been on FLO for the last few years.
Although nothing has been mentioned, it should also be noted that the decision re: NBCSports does NOT impact the Olympic Channel. Seems like this could be a natural home for bike racing should NBC retain the broadcast rights for ASO-organized events.
FLO has not yet released their North American coverage for 2021 AFAIK. Most events listed on their website are not available in the US. The good news is that there is plenty of time to get the answers ebfore we start missing races.
I subscribed to Flo and GCN last year and in Canada I got to see virtually every pro race on one or the other. Same with CX now. Much better than the spotty connection I was getting with Tiz.
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giro was on fubo tv as well, as were just about all of the UCI and ASO events. does the flosports app have pause and/or dvr controls or is it strictly live content?
the giro site says both fubo and flosports will have US coverage in 2021, which looks like it’s news to fubo since the channel is…gone (link says 2020 but the content says 2021 in a couple of different spots)
FLO shared the coverage with Fubo across a number of races, basically just using their feed (watermarked fubo logo on the screen).
I’m pretty sure you can pause live events on Flo, but don’t quote me on it. Plenty of playback options after the even has been completed as well.
On Flo everything was available for replay after the event. During the live event, I think you could backtrack on the progress bar and start watching from earlier in the event while the race was ongoing.
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