British cycling fans flooded TNT Sports with complaints about the broadcaster’s coverage of Paris-Roubaix on Sunday, disgruntled viewers paying the £30.99-a-month subscription to watch bike racing fuming at being “constantly bombarded” by adverts.
Viewers watching the broadcaster’s TV coverage on TNT Sports 1 were shown adverts throughout Mathieu van der Poel’s win, although viewers using Discovery+ could select a broadcast option without advert breaks, as was previously the case when Eurosport was still providing coverage in the UK.
> Mathieu van der Poel hit by bottle thrown from crowd at Paris-Roubaix
However, many watching the TNT Sports 1 coverage complained the advert breaks were repetitive and more frequent than on Eurosport, plenty of viewers taking to the internet to express their disgust at the quality of product they are now being asked to pay £30.99-a-month to watch.
On Facebook, one viewer said: “Trying to watch but there are more adverts than bike racing unfortunately!” Another agreed the ad breaks were “far more frequent than [on] Eurosport”.
TNT Sports’ posts about the race on Twitter were met by a steady stream of similar complaints from British viewers, one saying they “pay to be able to watch the race uninterrupted and not be constantly bombarded by shit ads”.
Another wrote: “Coverage is absolutely shit. Constant ads every few minutes that last around five minutes. Constantly missing attacks and crashes. And advertising football live when it’s not an ad break.”
“They’ve somehow managed to turn what was an incredible product, in GCN+, into something awful in two years while also charging about six times as much. Borderline impressive balls up,” someone else added.
> How to watch cycling for less now it’s moved to £30.99-a-month TNT Sports
Other viewers called the adverts “so frustrating” and “just ridiculous” due to their frequency.
“Six times the price and you still can’t afford a proper director who knows enough about cycling to know not to cut to the studio for some inane chit chat rather than watch the sprints for the other placings,” another disgruntled viewer wrote after the race had finished and the coverage returned to the studio to discuss Mathieu van der Poel’s win.
One viewer suggested they had calculated there “was over an hour of ads in the coverage today” and “the broadcast lasted 6.5 hours in total”. They continued: “In a 110-minute broadcast of football games, there’s less than 10 mins of ads. Why is cycling the whipping boy?”
It is just the latest controversy that has followed Warner Bros. Discovery closing Eurosport in the UK and Ireland and putting all its cycling coverage on TNT Sports, hiking the price from £6.99 to £30.99-a-month in the process.
Such is the weight of public fury at the situation, the issue was even raised in Parliament and a petition calling on the government to save free-to-air Tour de France coverage in UK has also been launched.
When news of the price hike emerged cycling fans reported Warner Bros. Discovery to the market regulator for “abuse of monopoly” and “price gouging”, former UCI president Brian Cookson suggesting you could not “imagine any retailer of any other product getting away with” such an increase.
road.cc has contacted TNT Sports for comment.
43 thoughts on ““More adverts than bike racing”: UK cycling fans fume at TNT Sports’ Paris-Roubaix coverage”
I got the coverage free due
I got the coverage free due to a generous mate who gets TNT as part of his Virgin package giving me his streaming password, and even so the level of ad breaks was driving me mad, if I’d actually paid for it I most certainly would have been incandescent.
One small tip though if you’re watching online, it won’t make up for the actual race coverage you missed but it will save you having to sit through all the ads, I watched flag to flag but had to run some errands about midday, so paused the coverage whilst I was away for forty-five minutes; when I returned that gave me enough time in hand to skip forward through the ad breaks. Not ideal but a bit less annoying.
Alternatively, just select
Alternatively, just select the ad-free stream
mtm_01 wrote:
That’s only available if you have a direct subscription to Discovery+ Premium, TNT sports supplied by any other provider as part of their package doesn’t offer that choice.
Rendel Harris wrote:
Do you by any chance get these options on the discovery+ screen? I get TNT via Sky (i.e. I get billed by Sky as part of TV/broadband/phone/etc package, rather than billed directly by d+), and on discoveryplus.com I get these options for events. The one marked with the channel ident (TNT Sports 1) is the one going out on the linear Sky channel, ad breaks ‘n’ all (TNT Sports 1 = Sky channel 410), and the one marked just with TNT Sports is an ad-free stream, including the “if you’re watching on TV, we’re off for a break” followed by a pause, before continued coverage.
I’ve got the same options on Tour of Abruzzo stage 1 live from 12.30 today so I can check later if this is the case for all live events.
That appears to be the case
That appears to be the case according to those above. Unfortunately if you have TNT sports supplied by a third-party provider, in my case (or rather my friend’s) Virgin, that’s not an option, you only get TNT (numbered channel), if you wanted ad free you have to pay a separate direct subscription to Discovery+, which would be pretty expensive and also extremely galling when you’re already paying your provider for TNT.
I see although that was my
I see although that was my point, I have TNT via a third-party provider (Sky), and still have the ad free stream.
If your friend was a proper mate, he’d move from Virgin Media to Sky
(joking)
I know from a message from
I wonder if Sky has to pay more to Discovery to be able to offer the ad free version as an option, one would assume so otherwise what would be the reason for Virgin not offering it as well?
Crikey memories of Eurosport
Crikey memories of Eurosport soon vanished didn’t they, they were never shy of an ad break
stonojnr wrote:
Discovery plus at £6.99 a month had completely ad-free coverage.
Maybe your freebie sub doesn
Maybe your freebie sub doesn’t include the app streaming content, but that option is available if ad free is important to you
Until a few months ago it was
Until a few months ago it was available to me for £6.99 a month, and I happily paid it. Just for the avoidance of any doubt, are you actually an employee of or shareholder in Warner Bros, Discovery, TNT or any related entity? You seem absolutely desperate to convince us that there is nothing to complain about in having to change from £6.99 a month without adverts to £31.99 a month with adverts every ten minutes.
By contrast the free SBS
By contrast the free SBS Australia coverage was excellent, really enjoyed the commentary too. The occasional advert breaks are often audio muted on the on demand player. Imagine paying £31/month and still having to listen to Roberto Hachio
Yepp, fantastic coverage. It
Yepp, fantastic coverage. It seems strange that WBD have forced me to spend less and get better coverage! Thing is, I would have been happy with a small pay hike, but I’m not going to get rinsed to fund football that I am not going to watch.
I watched several hours and
I watched several hours and can’t say I noticed any difference from Eurosport. I still don’t quite get the issue with the coverage to be honest. There seems to be an assumption that cycling fans only watch cycling and no other sports and that none of us have ever had TNT sports or Eurosport. All the people I know who watch cycling have always watched it as part of a TV subscription through Eurosport on sky or virgin. Can’t say I have every meet a person in the real world who used a streaming service only to watch live cycling.
I also hate this current trend of lazy journalism around these days of creating news articles based on a few random comments on social media. It’s pathetic.
You must work for Disney+.
You must work for Disney+. No one would want to pay more for the same coverage that was cheaper Only you would like a higher rate for the same quality
Mybike wrote:
Have Disney got the cycling now?
Technically Disney do own
Technically Disney do own part of ESPN so coverage in the US is
I’m not paying any more. Like
I’m not paying any more. Like I said many cycling fans are also sports fans who have a sports package with their TV. I had Eurosport for years, even before I was a cycling fan. I realise this is a cycling website and the views might be a bit skewed but this reporting that we are paying more is not correct. It’s only true if you subscribe to a streaming service to watch cycling which many people don’t.
cyclefaster wrote:
GCN+ used to have 3.3 million subscribers so quite a few people did when it was available.
Rendel Harris wrote:
GCN+ used to have 3.3 million subscribers so quite a few people did when it was available.— cyclefaster
I think that’s more likely to be the number of YouTube subscriptions rather than GCN +
And yet they operated at a
And yet they operated at a loss and WBD had to write of 33million GCN had accrued in debt so you can see how well that operating model worked.
Strangely despite 3.3million paying for GCN, only on average 57,000 people bothered watching ITVs “free” highlights from Paris Nice.
stonojnr wrote:
A lot of that debt was loaded onto GCN by WBD from its original purchase, the well-known “Glazer model” used in purchasing Manchester United, borrow the purchase price and then load it on the company you have just purchased as a debt. Effectively WBD purchased GCN in order to get their hands on the cycling rights, stripped the company of the main thing that made it valuable and put that in their Discovery+/TNT portfolio and then said this company is now virtually worthless, we will have to write off its debt and get rid of it. Before blaming GCN and/or believing WBD’s narrative you might like to consider that they have a total net debt of an astonishing $34.6 billion so I would think carefully before accepting their statements shifting blame for debt onto others.
cyclefaster wrote:
How d’you do, I don’t own a television and used to have a Discovery+ subscription solely so that I could watch cycle racing online. I know several other people who had D+ subscriptions so that they could watch at work and avoid marital/offspring strife by wanting to hog the TV for eight hours every time a good race was on.
I’ve watched cycling for
I’ve watched cycling for years.. can’t stand watching overpaid footballers. I do watch free to air tennis and rugby but it’s mainly cycling for me. Subscribed to Eurosport player for years, then gcn+, and then was still ok with Discovery+.. the price was fair for the coverage. Since the TNT takeover I’ve cancelled. I don’t want to watch football, really… It’s crap. Now I’m watching some live streaming and free highlights… I look at and take in the kits pro cyclists wear, companies that advertise on the kit actually put something in to cycling, not take it away. TNT is the result of a broken American system.
It’s been near enough
It’s been near enough identical to Eurosport coverage imo (largely because Eurosport were operating as Discovery for a while before the channels were finally merged ) and Ofcom regulate the amount of ads allowed in broadcasts, so it’s not going to have broken those rules.
cyclefaster wrote:
Hello
Only for one year, but I loved GCN+ because it was what I wanted (cycling) plus a bit more of what I wanted (cycling documentaries) and nothing that I didn’t (all other sports).
Let me introduce myself as a
Let me introduce myself as a Eusrosport subscriber who didn’t subscribe to any other TV service (OK, maybe Redbull TV). Happy to meet in person to satisfy your curiosity.
Was the same with Eurosport
Was the same with Eurosport but was cheaper – paying to be able to watch a tv channel to then be made to watch ads, make it make sense – 🙃
check12 wrote:
“Enshitification” It feels like a gag from an early Black Mirror episode that’s now a dystopic reality
ROOTminus1 wrote:
Paying to be able to watch a tv channel to then be made to watch ads, make it make sense – 🙃
— ROOTminus1 “Enshitification” It feels like a gag from an early Black Mirror episode that’s now a dystopic reality— check12
Yup – Rivermind!
****SPOILER ALERT*****
https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/sci-fi/black-mirror-common-people-ending-explained/
I watched it all on Tiz for
I watched it all on Tiz for free with no ads.
Let keep this our secret
Let keep this our secret before Big brother finds out
Where is British Cycling with
Where is British Cycling with their stance on TNT. Radio silence. No response to direct contact. No statement. No recognition of the issue. This, the body that is supposed to represent cycling in this country. They are pathetic. Cancelling my membership.
And this is why things like
And this is why things like Netflix took off. Because the younger generation couldn’t quite fathom how you could be paying £100/month for your sky package and still get constant, obnoxious adverts.
Netflix and co however are all moving back towards the cable TV model of charging you through the nose and showing you ads slowly but surely.
I watched on Discovery+ with
I watched on Discovery+ with no ads whatsoever. Commentary was great with Carlton and Rob Hatch and supporting others. Assumed that was the norm? Great race
There’s usually two feeds on
There’s usually two feeds on Discovery+ and one is full of ads, the other is ad free. Usually the front page link to a cycling race is the one full of ads and the 2nd one in the details page is ad free but its not always consistent 🙁 The only way I think to tell is to start it and if it says TNT Sports 1 (2,3 or 4), itll be full of ads, if it doesn’t have a number, it’ll be ad free.
jimxc wrote:
Didn’t happen.
“”More adverts than bike
“”More adverts than bike racing”
and I thought it’s about the road.cc – website. *SCNR*
*To avoid some shitstorm: Yes, I know that road.cc has to generate an income and yes it’s moslty comming from adverts, but the amount of ads on road.cc is insane.
While typing this comment, the input field is surrounded by 4 ads. (one to the left, two(!) to the right and one at the bottom). When scrolling most articles I get nagged by videos and tons of adverts.
Didn’t TNT indicate that
Didn’t TNT indicate that although the ad free streams would initially still be available via Discovery+, at some point (can’t remember when) they would be removed?
I think it’s more upsetting
I think it’s more upsetting that I’m paying £30-odd quid a month and still have to put up with that monsterous bellend Carlton Kirby ruining races with his utter drivel.
If you have Sky and watch via the Discovery+ app then there are no adverts btw – this is why i didn’t add TNT as an extra to my Sky subcription!
I can’t let that one pass. I
I can’t let that one pass. I have no wish to start another (yawn) Carlton/Hatch/etc debate but it must be recognised that taste in cycling commentary is a very personal thing. Personally Carlton at the mike (preferably with Matt Stephens alongside and a tightly managed Sean allowed into the booth for GTs only) is one of the very few redeeming features of Europsort/TNT’s otherwise ghastly, overblown, lowest-common-denominator coverage of the sport.
But we’re the ads up to the
But we’re the ads up to the standards of ITV4s midweek daytime ads? Those happy donkeys. Or that attempt at the slow mo cycling with the watch?…
And Quest+1 failed to show the women’s race.
On the plus side, I haven’t
On the plus side, I haven’t taken out any over 50 life insurance plans or felt compelled to arrange any prepaid funerals over the weekend, or visited Halfords or Skǒda. And my eyes aren’t itching from the ident bumper showing the rear wheel with the drivetrain on the left. But I’m missing G and MvdP on the Zwift bike in the big flashy room, and the donkeys, and the ability to text WIN or whatever to a 5 digit number for £2 (standard network charges apply) to win a bike I’ve probably already got.