UCI grant Discovery WC rights from 2023 to 2030

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bulletbass man 6/10/2022 1:16am
6/10/2022 1:16am
According to the other site uci has announced the ews team is taking over Dh and Xc coverage
veefour
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veefour 6/10/2022 3:38am
6/10/2022 3:38am Edited Date/Time 6/10/2022 3:42am
bulletbass man wrote:
According to the other site uci has announced the ews team is taking over Dh and Xc coverage
Yes, it's on the home page here too, looks like things are going from bad to worse.

KMBNT
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KMBNT 6/14/2022 11:40am
6/14/2022 11:40am
After watching the presentation I expect the coverage to be homogenised "professional" sport coverage, which I will do not even bother to watch as it will be behind paywall.

However it's a great opportunity for teams, riders, people like Wyn and Cathro to produce high quality insider content that will shift audience from Discovery and hopefully move MTB away from UCI in the process.

If Vital could curate that content in one place it would be awesome!!!!

That's my optimistic take on the situation :D
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Stewyeww
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Stewyeww 6/14/2022 12:20pm
6/14/2022 12:20pm
I just hope they don't fuck it up like MavTV has managed to do with Motocross in the states. Im sure they threw around a lot of the same marketing buzz words and haven't followed through at all.
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owl-x 6/14/2022 2:08pm
6/14/2022 2:08pm
Oof.

Those people do not party.


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brash
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brash 6/14/2022 4:17pm
6/14/2022 4:17pm Edited Date/Time 6/14/2022 4:48pm
Damn this video is cringe, top it off the player failed about 30 seconds in twice. Go banana!

Edit - Finally after 5 goes I've watched the video through.... holy shit the sport is in trouble. This is reallly bad.

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owl-x 6/14/2022 6:11pm
6/14/2022 6:11pm
Okay, I've investigated the track cycling thing they're so self-gassed about. They did, indeed, choose 18 men and 18 women trackists. Gave them costumes and trotted them out under lights. Six scheduled rounds around the blood money globe. Equal prize money seems the only thing that'd be cool to bring to DH.

Trackfans seem to like it, because track racing was dead. DH is so good right now, this won't help me.

I've convinced myself this is their plan. All the red yarn lines up perfectly on my wall, the thumbtacks are all there. They're gonna sell this back to us like it's better. It will be corny and fail by 2025, after the second re-tooling halfway through season 2.

RIP

ps- sacre bleu! they have factory teams??? "Exciting!"
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bulletbass man 6/14/2022 8:05pm
6/14/2022 8:05pm
brash wrote:
Damn this video is cringe, top it off the player failed about 30 seconds in twice. Go banana! Edit - Finally after 5 goes I've watched...
Damn this video is cringe, top it off the player failed about 30 seconds in twice. Go banana!

Edit - Finally after 5 goes I've watched the video through.... holy shit the sport is in trouble. This is reallly bad.

I haven’t seen the video cause I can’t get it to play
baronKanon 6/14/2022 11:25pm
6/14/2022 11:25pm
I see a lot of moaning and you haven't seen the end result yet. I think Discovery is a good thing, as they have a good experience in producing large sporting events live.

Re paywall:
You like free stuff, I get it. But to create high quality content, the money has to come from somewhere, right? Or do you think a) the cameramen, presenters, riggers, producers etc work for free, and that the equipment is provided by a djini? or b)Someone else should pay, but not YOU or c)there would be commercials all over the place with no space left for watching riders? I would gladly pay for content if it is high quality. With Redbull, the whole thing is a big commercial for us to drink bad tasting soda pops (or for the more conspiracy leaned: money laundring).

Unfortunately, big corporations tend to speak in big words with vague content, but you have to look through that.
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Nic Cotton 6/15/2022 2:14am
6/15/2022 2:14am
baronKanon wrote:
I see a lot of moaning and you haven't seen the end result yet. I think Discovery is a good thing, as they have a good...
I see a lot of moaning and you haven't seen the end result yet. I think Discovery is a good thing, as they have a good experience in producing large sporting events live.

Re paywall:
You like free stuff, I get it. But to create high quality content, the money has to come from somewhere, right? Or do you think a) the cameramen, presenters, riggers, producers etc work for free, and that the equipment is provided by a djini? or b)Someone else should pay, but not YOU or c)there would be commercials all over the place with no space left for watching riders? I would gladly pay for content if it is high quality. With Redbull, the whole thing is a big commercial for us to drink bad tasting soda pops (or for the more conspiracy leaned: money laundring).

Unfortunately, big corporations tend to speak in big words with vague content, but you have to look through that.
Re: paywall thing. I actually don't think people are against having to pay for content - it's a pretty standard model nowadays. The crux is that we already have great content AND it's free. So if Discovery give equally great content that requires payment, then this is still, overall, a worse situation than we are currently in. The only way it would work is better content. Given the evidence from EWS coverage, worse content that we have to pay for seems to be a genuine possibility. And I think that is why people are (rightly) worried.
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mamath7
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mamath7 6/15/2022 2:43am
6/15/2022 2:43am
(@spoomer I had to google honchos. Interesting history and funny )
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sspomer 6/15/2022 7:06am
6/15/2022 7:06am
baronKanon wrote:
I see a lot of moaning and you haven't seen the end result yet. I think Discovery is a good thing, as they have a good...
I see a lot of moaning and you haven't seen the end result yet. I think Discovery is a good thing, as they have a good experience in producing large sporting events live.

Re paywall:
You like free stuff, I get it. But to create high quality content, the money has to come from somewhere, right? Or do you think a) the cameramen, presenters, riggers, producers etc work for free, and that the equipment is provided by a djini? or b)Someone else should pay, but not YOU or c)there would be commercials all over the place with no space left for watching riders? I would gladly pay for content if it is high quality. With Redbull, the whole thing is a big commercial for us to drink bad tasting soda pops (or for the more conspiracy leaned: money laundring).

Unfortunately, big corporations tend to speak in big words with vague content, but you have to look through that.
Nic Cotton wrote:
Re: paywall thing. I actually don't think people are against having to pay for content - it's a pretty standard model nowadays. The crux is that...
Re: paywall thing. I actually don't think people are against having to pay for content - it's a pretty standard model nowadays. The crux is that we already have great content AND it's free. So if Discovery give equally great content that requires payment, then this is still, overall, a worse situation than we are currently in. The only way it would work is better content. Given the evidence from EWS coverage, worse content that we have to pay for seems to be a genuine possibility. And I think that is why people are (rightly) worried.
i agree with what nic said and baron, you're right - we haven't seen the end results and money has to come from somewhere (i have NO problem with paying for DH if the coverage is compared to what we have now). i believe if we have to pay, however, the audience shrinks considerably. i don't think many would disagree with that. discovery is promising bigger/better results and growth of the sport. if there is a paywall, i don't understand how that happens.
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mfoga 6/15/2022 7:46am
6/15/2022 7:46am
Only way paywall works IMO is that is paired in with something else. I believe Discovery has their own streaming service which is rumored to be combined with HBO after merger . So tell me I get WC, and all of that you have my attention but if it’s separate no thanks.
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veefour 6/16/2022 11:35am
6/16/2022 11:35am Edited Date/Time 6/16/2022 11:51am
We also have no guarantee that there won't be advertising alongside the paywall, from what I've read that's the case with their other cycling coverage. They also have some pretty woeful commentators and pundits on their books. Bradley Wiggins is just an embarrassment in his new role in front of the camera (or at least he was from what I saw of him during the Giro), Carlton Kirby isn't much better.
All their talk of growing the sport just makes me laugh, the majority of riders I know don't really follow dh. I only know 1 person who doesn't ride who currently follows DH, despite me plugging it to all my friends for the last 15 years. I know lots of people who follow road racing and have no interest in it. Where are all these people going to come from? If people were interested it wouldn't have taken much research to discover they could've watched it live and for nothing for the last 8 years (not to mention all the replays that are available).
My fear is that a lot of people who currently watch on RB won't put their hands in their pockets to watch it on Discovery. As much as I love it I won't pay if the coverage/commentary is bad. I can see viewing figures going down as a result of this move.
The only potential silver lining I'm clinging onto is that this will backfire so badly on Discovery and the UCI that teams will be interested if someone (RB being the obvious candidates) comes up with a viable alternative series.








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jofish 6/16/2022 1:29pm
6/16/2022 1:29pm
sspomer wrote:
head here to watch the video of the honchos talking about the future. https://www.vitalmtb.com/news/news/Discovery-Warner-Bros-Eurosport-Talking-About-Covering-the-World-Cup-2023-2030,1433
head here to watch the video of the honchos talking about the future.
https://www.vitalmtb.com/news/news/Discovery-Warner-Bros-Eurosport-Talk…
The outlook is bleak. One very faint glimmer of a silver lining for me is that it might allow old Steve Jones to ditch embn and get involved in the dh coverage.
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veefour
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veefour 9/5/2022 12:37am
9/5/2022 12:37am Edited Date/Time 9/5/2022 1:07am
There's a massive lump in my throat after watching Rob and the team sign off after the XC race.
https://www.redbull.com/us-en/live/uci-mountain-bike-world-cup-2022-val… @2h.30 for anyone who feels like welling up.
Thank you so much Rob and everyone at Red Bull for the awesome coverage. The understanding of what the riders go through and what it takes to race at this level that Rob has provided over the years, he brought so much to the races, from the insight he could provide from being track side during practice, to the relationship he had with the riders.
My fear is that so much of this will be lost going forward. Will the new commentary team even be at the events? I feel it's more likely they'll be disconnected, in a studio nowhere near the event, much in the same way as they cover road racing.
I hope they can do this sport the justice it deserves, but watching their road coverage makes me fearful of the future in their hands.
Thanks again Rob and RB, it's been a hell of a ride.

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grambo
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grambo 9/5/2022 1:55am
9/5/2022 1:55am
veefour wrote:
There's a massive lump in my throat after watching Rob and the team sign off after the XC race. https://www.redbull.com/us-en/live/uci-mountain-bike-world-cup-2022-val-di-sole-xco-men @2h.30 for anyone who feels like...
There's a massive lump in my throat after watching Rob and the team sign off after the XC race.
https://www.redbull.com/us-en/live/uci-mountain-bike-world-cup-2022-val… @2h.30 for anyone who feels like welling up.
Thank you so much Rob and everyone at Red Bull for the awesome coverage. The understanding of what the riders go through and what it takes to race at this level that Rob has provided over the years, he brought so much to the races, from the insight he could provide from being track side during practice, to the relationship he had with the riders.
My fear is that so much of this will be lost going forward. Will the new commentary team even be at the events? I feel it's more likely they'll be disconnected, in a studio nowhere near the event, much in the same way as they cover road racing.
I hope they can do this sport the justice it deserves, but watching their road coverage makes me fearful of the future in their hands.
Thanks again Rob and RB, it's been a hell of a ride.

100% agree with your entire post. There's a montage of favourite moments and DH highlights on the post-race show/credits on the DH race that is worth a watch too. Definitely emotional, got back into MTB in 2014 and watched every race since (loosely followed the previous year when Stevie won, wish I had been clued in more). I'm an optimist but I just don't see how there's any hope for a comparable quality of broadcast/knowledge/atmosphere with a new team. I hope I'm proven wrong but if nothing else glad to have been along for the ride and hats off to entire Red Bull TV team and especially Rob.
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veefour 9/5/2022 1:34pm
9/5/2022 1:34pm Edited Date/Time 9/5/2022 11:14pm
It was interesting listening to Reece Wilson (or is that Rilse Weeson?) on Wyn TV talking about his desire to become a commentator . As much as I want to see him continue racing I thought he was impressive at Hardline and could end up as Rob's successor.
If he's got any sense he'll let someone else have a crack first though. That job's the definition of a poisoned chalice.
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brash
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brash 9/6/2022 7:57pm
9/6/2022 7:57pm
who's cutting onions in here. Vale Redbull!

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Atkisa
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Atkisa 9/8/2022 9:57am
9/8/2022 9:57am
baronKanon wrote:
I see a lot of moaning and you haven't seen the end result yet. I think Discovery is a good thing, as they have a good...
I see a lot of moaning and you haven't seen the end result yet. I think Discovery is a good thing, as they have a good experience in producing large sporting events live.

Re paywall:
You like free stuff, I get it. But to create high quality content, the money has to come from somewhere, right? Or do you think a) the cameramen, presenters, riggers, producers etc work for free, and that the equipment is provided by a djini? or b)Someone else should pay, but not YOU or c)there would be commercials all over the place with no space left for watching riders? I would gladly pay for content if it is high quality. With Redbull, the whole thing is a big commercial for us to drink bad tasting soda pops (or for the more conspiracy leaned: money laundring).

Unfortunately, big corporations tend to speak in big words with vague content, but you have to look through that.
What people take exception to is the things they love being packaged up and sold of to the highest bidder for them to do what they like with in the pursuit of further enrichment.

Everybody knows that that's how the world works without people patronisingly pointing it out to them.

Just because that's how things are doesn't mean you have to surrender your will to it
4
rockchomper
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rockchomper 9/8/2022 10:01am
9/8/2022 10:01am
baronKanon wrote:
I see a lot of moaning and you haven't seen the end result yet. I think Discovery is a good thing, as they have a good...
I see a lot of moaning and you haven't seen the end result yet. I think Discovery is a good thing, as they have a good experience in producing large sporting events live.

Re paywall:
You like free stuff, I get it. But to create high quality content, the money has to come from somewhere, right? Or do you think a) the cameramen, presenters, riggers, producers etc work for free, and that the equipment is provided by a djini? or b)Someone else should pay, but not YOU or c)there would be commercials all over the place with no space left for watching riders? I would gladly pay for content if it is high quality. With Redbull, the whole thing is a big commercial for us to drink bad tasting soda pops (or for the more conspiracy leaned: money laundring).

Unfortunately, big corporations tend to speak in big words with vague content, but you have to look through that.
Atkisa wrote:
What people take exception to is the things they love being packaged up and sold of to the highest bidder for them to do what they...
What people take exception to is the things they love being packaged up and sold of to the highest bidder for them to do what they like with in the pursuit of further enrichment.

Everybody knows that that's how the world works without people patronisingly pointing it out to them.

Just because that's how things are doesn't mean you have to surrender your will to it
They have very big shoes to fill, especially without Rob announcing! not saying it is going to flop just saying very big shoes to fill.
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veefour
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veefour 9/9/2022 1:40am
9/9/2022 1:40am Edited Date/Time 9/9/2022 1:41am
Really interesting podcast with Dean Lucas and Bernard Kerr, where they talk, amongst other things, about the Discovery take over and rumoured changes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqtiIqj0dy0
1
Mr.Nally
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Mr.Nally 9/17/2022 6:19am
9/17/2022 6:19am
A hint at The future of World Cup MTB? Finishing a race run in a damp car-park with no one around to care ... being a little melodramatic, but EWS has stagnated so much since the 2019 season IMHO.

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Pedal4life
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Pedal4life 9/20/2022 5:15pm
9/20/2022 5:15pm
#F the UCI#
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Mr.Nally
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Mr.Nally 9/21/2022 11:57pm
9/21/2022 11:57pm
Pedal4life wrote:
#F the UCI#
Don't you mean #F the #ESO?
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FullSend
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FullSend 10/17/2022 7:13am
10/17/2022 7:13am
Ah screw it - we had a good run.

I just hope this is an opportunity for maybe smaller scale grassroots coverage of national and regional racing series. There's tons of excitement in those too.
Stiksandstones 10/17/2022 7:37am
10/17/2022 7:37am
Hey RedBull, keep the World Cup team on standby, you might get it back for pennies on the dollar! Lol
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baronKanon 10/17/2022 8:39am
10/17/2022 8:39am
They are cutting excess after the merger. Nothing to see here...
1

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