Universal Sports to quit Broadcasting

Universal Sports to quit Broadcasting

Postby GHagen » Sun Oct 25, 2015 6:53 am

Universal Sports is going out of business and transferring their broadcast rights to NBC sports. If you have Universal Sports, it is to end Nov 16.
If you are ,like me, on Comcast, we did not get Universal Sports. Comcast dropped US several years ago.
http://www.bicycling.com/culture/news/u ... y-goes-air
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Re: Universal Sports to quit Broadcasting

Postby jbotti » Sun Oct 25, 2015 8:25 am

I was not aware of this. For those of us that have had this the past several seasons we have been quite spoiled. Its not in HD but we have been getting live second run coverage of all WC ski races. Its been awesome. My guess is that NBC will do some very sparse coverage on NBCSN but that the days complete WC coverage are over in the US. That really is too bad! Although I guess we shouldn't be too surprised. I remember reading years ago that Tour de France viewership in the US peaked at 375,000 and that was at the height of Lance's success when we was winning it every year. I am going to guess that viewership for WC racing in the US is lower (probably well lower) than that 375k number. The vast majority of people only watch this stuff in the Olympics.

If anyone figures out a good alternative or a pay site that carries this, please post and let us know. Based on the shut down date today will be that last WC race they carry.
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Re: Universal Sports to quit Broadcasting

Postby Eiszapfen » Sun Oct 25, 2015 8:53 am

You could try "British Eurosport". It is a paid service and they brodcast all the WC events. Just google "British Eurosport Live" or so, don't know if you can get it in the USA. I think there is a downloadable "Player", In europe it costs 59€ per year.
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Re: Universal Sports to quit Broadcasting

Postby theorist » Sun Oct 25, 2015 12:55 pm

jbotti wrote:For those of us that have had this the past several seasons we have been quite spoiled. Its not in HD but we have been getting live second run coverage of all WC ski races.


I've been getting HD coverage of the races from Universal Sports Network-HD, which I get through Time-Warner (I just have to pay an extra $9/month for the sports package). What provider are you using?
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Re: Universal Sports to quit Broadcasting

Postby jbotti » Sun Oct 25, 2015 1:54 pm

theorist wrote:
jbotti wrote:For those of us that have had this the past several seasons we have been quite spoiled. Its not in HD but we have been getting live second run coverage of all WC ski races.


I've been getting HD coverage of the races from Universal Sports Network-HD, which I get through Time-Warner (I just have to pay an extra $9/month for the sports package). What provider are you using?


Directv. I have never heard of this. I will have to look into it.
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Re: Universal Sports to quit Broadcasting

Postby Max_501 » Sun Oct 25, 2015 1:57 pm

My channel has been HD too. Really gonna miss it.
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Re: Universal Sports to quit Broadcasting

Postby jbotti » Sun Oct 25, 2015 1:58 pm

I am also guessing that when USN shuts down the HD broadcast will go with it. It appears that Directv does not offer USN in HD even if you pay extra.

I think we still need a new solution.
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Re: Universal Sports to quit Broadcasting

Postby jbotti » Sun Oct 25, 2015 2:06 pm

Just checked, British Eurosport is not available in the US.
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Re: Universal Sports to quit Broadcasting

Postby theorist » Sun Oct 25, 2015 5:06 pm

Well I suppose we can always watch this instead :) ..... http://www.bravotv.com/apres-ski
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Re: Universal Sports to quit Broadcasting

Postby h.harb » Mon Oct 26, 2015 6:47 pm

Follow the money, you'll find out what happened!
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Re: Universal Sports to quit Broadcasting

Postby Matt » Tue Oct 27, 2015 11:42 pm

jbotti wrote:Just checked, British Eurosport is not available in the US.

You can always use hidemyass or other equivalent VPN service. Using a global VPN service there are lots of places you can find it for free, but I suppose that if you are limited to english you have to go to the UK.
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Re: Universal Sports to quit Broadcasting

Postby theorist » Fri Nov 06, 2015 12:32 pm

FIS just cancelled the Nov. 14-15 Levi SL's due to warm weather and a lack of snow. Hopefully they'll find another site for that weekend so we can see more WC racing before Universal stops broadcasting on the 16th.
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Re: Universal Sports to quit Broadcasting

Postby theorist » Sun Nov 15, 2015 1:43 pm

Update: http://www.skiracing.com/stories/how-to ... -goes-dark

USSA has been trying to convince NBC to pick up Universal's coverage of non-domestic WC races, but no final decision has been reached.

For now, at least we have this:

"For starters, the women’s World Cup races in Aspen as well as the men’s Birds of Prey races from Beaver Creek were already set to air on NBC and NBCSN, and those broadcasting plans remain intact. NBCSN will air the rescheduled Levi slalom at Aspen on Nov. 28 live beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET while NBC will air the regularly-scheduled Aspen slalom on Nov. 29 live starting at 3:00 p.m. ET. Additionally, the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association has been working with NBC Sports over the last week to coordinate a domestic production of Friday’s GS (Nov. 27)."
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Re: Universal Sports to quit Broadcasting

Postby jbotti » Sun Nov 15, 2015 6:25 pm

Would certainly be nice if NBCSN and NBC picked up the rest of the season. I am not too optimistic. A friend of mine in TV told me that WC Ski racing (non olympics) draws between 60k and 100k viewers per race in the US. That's not a lot. But hope and opposable thumbs are all that separate us from animals!
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Re: Universal Sports to quit Broadcasting

Postby theorist » Thu Nov 19, 2015 11:26 pm

Good news: "It is expected that the full schedule of Audi FIS World Cup alpine events will be available between Universal HD, NBCSN, and Live Extra Streaming." (http://www.skiracing.com/stories/bona-f ... -in-the-us).

Full schedule available here: http://www.nbcsports.com/olympic-sports-schedule
From a quick look, it appears the races will be available live through Live Extra Streaming, and then be rebroadcast on Universal HD.

This is the last year of Universal's 10-year contract to broadcast the races in the US, so it remains to be seen what will happen next year.
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