The lack of free-to-air television coverage of the Tour de France is a “big loss” for British cycling and has the potential to reduce the sport’s audience ahead of next summer’s double UK Grand Départ, says TNT Sports pundit Brian Smith.
The 2025 Tour de France marked the last time cycling’s biggest race will be shown on ITV for the foreseeable future after Warner Bros. Discovery announced the previous year that it had agreed a new exclusive rights deal for cycling’s biggest race.
The rights deal, which will run until at least 2030, will mean that the Tour de France will not be freely available in the UK for the first time since the 1980s, when Channel 4 began broadcasting its now iconic evening highlights programmes.
That development coincided with the closure of Eurosport in the UK and cycling’s move to TNT Sports, placing the sport behind a £31-a-month paywall, a steep price hike that has been roundly criticised by fans and was the subject of a petition to parliament.
And with the men’s and women’s editions of the Tour de France starting in the UK in 2027, as part of a bumper festival of racing on British roads, questions marks remain over whether the race, and even the Grands Départs, will be freely available to watch at home.
The organisers of the Tour’s visit have given little away when it comes to the potential of the opening stages being broadcast on terrestrial TV, only admitting that talks are “ongoing” over a potential deal.
Speaking to the road.cc Podcast this week, double British road race champion Brian Smith – who has worked as a pundit and commentator for TNT Sports for 15 years – admitted that the Tour’s split from ITV could have a severe impact on viewing figures.
“I think a lot of people, the general public, watch the Tour de France on ITV and terrestrial TV. To take it away from them, I think it’s losing a lot of fans,” Smith told the podcast.
“Your cycling fans will always watch on Warner Brothers, Discovery, Eurosport. And I can totally understand why they’ve put it behind a paywall, because you’re not just getting just cycling, they want to appeal to people who watch snooker, football, rugby union, you name it. There are a lot of sports behind that paywall, but I can totally understand why cycling fans don’t like it.
“Nowadays you have to pay for most sports. But I do think it’s a big loss not having ITV. That’s how I got into watching cycling. People I know who aren’t cycling fans will tell me they’ve watched the Tour de France, and say ‘that Scottish boy is doing alright’.
“And we’re not going to have that anymore, because they’re the sort of kind of punters that aren’t going to pay to watch the sport. They’re just watching it because it just happens to be on TV. Nobody really knew who Mark Cavendish or Bradley Wiggins were until the Olympics and now they all know about it.
“For Joe Public, it’s a shame to lose these guys, because they’re not going to pay, so how are they going to find out about the Tour de France? I know of some cyclists who are cyclists because they watched it on ITV, they saw it, and they saw the British riders.”
And with the men’s Tour starting in Edinburgh in 2027, Smith admits that it’s a “shame” that fewer people will be able to watch how new home hero Oscar Onley gets on after the race leaves British shores.
“Look at look at Scotland now, Scotland has someone that’s a contender,” he said. “And there are a lot of Scottish people out there that have really no interest in cycling, but will think, ‘oh, this Scot is in this race in France, I’m going to watch it’.
“But how are they going to watch it? They’re not going to pay to watch it. That person watching it with their son might go, ‘well, I might try that’.
“I can see both sides, of course. That paywall pays for a lot of things, the production, the coverage we get, and everything around it. And what Warner Bros. Discovery, Eurosport bring, the studio, the behind the scenes, it’s not cheap, especially at the Tour de France.
“But I can totally understand [the disappointment of] losing the ITV coverage, because it’s been a kind of stalwart, you had Channel 4 before that, then ITV. It does bring a certain audience. And that certain audience is required in cycling.
“We need that that platform, we need that kind of general person that sits there and it might be the only race they watch all year.
“And for the Scots now, having someone in there and they can’t watch it. It’s a bit of a shame.”
To listen to Brian’s full interview with the road.cc Podcast, in which he also discussed Onley’s “desperate” move to Ineos and the pressures of life as a pro cyclist, click here.
17 thoughts on “Loss of ITV Tour de France coverage “a shame” before UK Grand Départ, says TNT Sports pundit”
I somehow don’t think this
I somehow don’t think this will pay off. People get tired of all these paid subscriptions and will rather watch it on piracy sites. Here in Switzerland it is actually the only option to watch it on demand, since discovery plus is not available. I really miss the GCN+ app….
The lack of terrestrial
The lack of terrestrial coverage of cycling will cause a massive fall off in exposure, as has happened with cricket.
There has been a healthy, steady stream of young, talented cyclists coming into some clubs and the British squad over the last 10-15 years. It is likely that this will reduce because youngsters become attracted to other sports, which they can see on television.
The TDF is always a TV
The TDF is always a TV highlight. Unfortunately, like other minority sports, the broadcasters think that subscription income will offset the loss of advertising revenue as advertising will pay less for fewer viewers.
Ultimately the market will decide. No viewers will mean a move to free or cheap channels.
It’s a sad fact of life and one that F1, World Rally, Cricket and many more have faced before.
Cycling just isn’t popular in the minds of the TV executive.
“Your cycling fans will
“Your cycling fans will always watch on Warner Brothers, Discovery… ”
Nope, sorry Brian. I ain’t paying 30 quid a month to watch the one sport I bother with on telly. I’ll just go to Sporza on a vpn. And I’ve been watching the classics on Eurosport for decades. I suspect cycling has lost 90% of its viewers, but they won’t give a shit – because it’s literally a tiny audience in comparison with the other sports they have. They can’t be getting any value out of it, it’s such a bad business decision it almost feels like it’s been done out of spite.
They have lost viewers but
They have lost viewers but not 90% and we’re only talking UK here – Eurosport is still freely available in many European countries.
It could all change again in the next few years with all the buyout talks taking place and TNT losing lots of sports rights (Champions League, Europa League) which is pretty much an existential crisis for them.
The thing is, though, cycling, won’t be a priority for any broadcaster. It’s not big enough, it’s filler to them.
I think it would be a great
I think it would be a great move for TNT to offer the Grand Depart for free. Would get them loads of publicity and good will and might even snare some new subsrciptions. Me, I’ll be camped out on Bubble Corner 15km from the finish on day 2
I am pretty sure that there
I am pretty sure that there will be some form of free to air Grand Depart coverage, but nothing beyond stage 3.
I used to watch the hour
I used to watch the hour highlights show on ITV and thought it was very good. No new subscriptions though , I’m overloaded with choice as it is. So it’s bye-bye to the TDF from me. I won’t miss it , it was only ever a small diversion.
TDF is something I might put
TDF is something I might put in the background on TV when home alone on a weekend and fixing a bike or something. (This is very different to when I was a child and I would have watched it daily throughout the summer).
Would be silly to take a subscription for that.
As someone with strong ties to France, I might find another way if this happens to be a big mountain day on a weekend.
The price hike is outrageuous
The price hike is outrageuous. I used to be a Eurosport Player subscriber, I like watching British and World Superbikes as well as some of the cycling and it was £50-60 pounds a year. That’s now the cost for 2 months.
Sky are just as bad, you can’t pick and choose the sports you want so if they splash the cash for F1 or whatever other sport everyone has to pay.
I will really miss the ITV
I will really miss the ITV TDF theme tune, which had become something of a mid-summer klaxon for me.
I only really watched the highlight show, and had the daily live show on when I could at the weekend. Not really worth the hassle and expense of signing up for TNT for that. I can’t imagine I’m alone, and this is not a good result for sponsors.
I think/hope that Amaury will regret their greed.
Your financial commitment to
Your financial commitment to TNT isn’t just £30.99 per month. Because there’s a minimum 24 month contract the commitment is £743.76. When compared to having Eurosport thrown in as part of a Sky package or paying £5.99 per month for Discovery+ it will deter most UK viewers, I’d suppose. Especially since most of that £743.76 will actually be paying for football viewing rights that many cycling fans couldn’t care less about. I couldn’t possibly advocate the use of a VPN to watching other nation’s free to air coverage but that looks like much better value.
You can sign up monthly on
You can sign up monthly on discovery+ then cancel. I did this to watch just the autumn internationals.
Thank goodness for that. I
Thank goodness for that. I will only want it for the month of July. It’s part of my summer.
ktache wrote:
Worth remembering as well that it can be watched simultaneously on two separate devices, so if you have a mate who is similarly keen to watch but not to spend too much you can go halves on a month’s subscription and get the whole Tour for just over £15 each. It’s also worth checking your broadband provider’s offers, many have it as a bolt-on extra for as little as £18 a month; BTTV, EETV, Sky and Virgin all offer reduced rates. Or if you’re really lucky, like me, you can find a mate who subscribes and lets you borrow their login for nothing!
Sky will add it for £31 a month – no discounts. However, you can sign up monthly.
Reluctantly, I may be doing so from March to the end of the Tour.
Amaury Sport Organisation
Amaury Sport Organisation done a deal with the Americans effectively, and they’ve decimated cycling fans in the UK. They’re not catering or providing for prospective audiences, so they’re missing out on revenue they could have. Halving the subscription fee would be a start and it wouldn’t dent their profits! This is American imperialism at it’s finest!