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Bike Channel on Sky in UK

by timclarkih
Wed, Jan 06, 2016 00:53
6

This may be old news but Bike channel launched in the UK on December 10th Bike, a 24 hour cycling channel on Sky on ch 464. Hope it does well.

http://www.skymedia.co.uk/news/bike-channel-to-launch.aspx

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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6 comments

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Crimea03 | 8 years ago
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Any plans for HD? After being spoilt watching the live cycling on Eurosport HD, the BIKE live coverage seems very old school.

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MartyMcCann replied to Crimea03 | 8 years ago
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Crimea03 wrote:

Any plans for HD? After being spoilt watching the live cycling on Eurosport HD, the BIKE live coverage seems very old school.

 

According to their Twitter feed they are currently "looking in to HD" but in the meantime are making changes this week to their playout to improve picture quality.

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davel | 8 years ago
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Hits Virgin Media ch 552 this week, according to the channel.

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HarryTrauts | 8 years ago
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I watched the Ventoux programme and, despite the odd translation issue, enjoyed it.  Something that struck me was there were no commercial breaks during the hour-long programme.  How are they funding the channel?  

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MartyMcCann replied to HarryTrauts | 8 years ago
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harragan wrote:

I watched the Ventoux programme and, despite the odd translation issue, enjoyed it.  Something that struck me was there were no commercial breaks during the hour-long programme.  How are they funding the channel?  

 

There are a few ads  although the Rapha ones don't seem like ads at all- they look more like short documentaries and  last much longer than the usual 30 seconds. In fact if you turned onto the channel in the middle of one of them it can take a wee while before you realise that you are actually watching an ad. I have also seen ads from the likes of Pinarello, Merida and Rudy Project. Many of the MTB shows in particular are also glorified extended ads (eg there was one about North Shore bikes over Christmas) so I am guessing product placement may also contibute to funding the channel. I also think it is a UK version of an existing Italian channel  so maybe the income from that is subsidising the newer one.

To be honest I think it may be quite a cheap channel (in relative terms) to run judging by the programme content and number of repeats. It will be interesting to see how they expand-I am just glad that it exists in any form.

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MartyMcCann | 8 years ago
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At this stage I have seen some very mixed quality when it comes to programme content. While it is great to watch stuff like Italian Masters, some of the other programmes seem to have been inspired by the dubbing technique used by early 90s Channel 4 programme Eurotrash. I was watching Bike on Ventoux which had obviously had a script translated by someone who knows nothing about cycling- it kept refering to riders as "runners" and in one sentence said "the Englishman (sic) Christopher Froome overtakes Alexander (sic) Quintana". Also the Incycle programmes are virtually unwatchable because the background music is louder than Rob Hatch's narration- it sounds as if it was recorded right in front of the speakers at a dubstep rave.

 

Nonetheless it is great that it has been deemed viable to produce a channel dedicated to cycling but hopefully the quality gets better.

 

 

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