What Next Week's GCN+ Shutdown and Shift to Max Means for US Bike Racing Fans in 2024
Breaking down the implications of the looming shutdown of the GCN+ app and announcement that WBD's racing assets will soon be moved to the Max streaming app
When Warner Brothers Discovery (WBD) announced last month that they were abruptly shutting down their popular GCN+ (Global Cycling Network) streaming service on December 19th, there was a lot of uncertainty about where, if at all, USA-based cycling fans would be able to watch WBD’s broad portfolio of professional cycling in 2024. But, with just a few days left before GCN+ was set to shut down, WBD announced that they were shifting their vast library of live races for which they own the US broadcast rights over to the WBD-owned Max Streaming Service (formerly known as HBO), via their B/R Sports Add-On, for the US audiences (the races will be migrating to Eurosport Player & Discovery+ in Europe).
What Does This Mean?
At a glance, this is great news, especially if you already have a Max subscription since the service you are paying $49.99 per year for (GCN+) is migrating over to the service you are already paying $9.99 per month (or $99 per year) to access.
In theory, this is a clear positive since a current Max and GCN+ subscriber would be effectively lowering their net outflow from $150 to $100 for the same content (some of GCN+ Cyclocross assets, like the December/January races, will be moving to FloBikes, but so far, it appears like the remainder of the off-road calendar, like the MTB World Cups and CX World Cups will remain with Max).
But, as always, the devil is in the details. If we read the fine print on the Max website, it tells us that after the promotional period ends (on February 29th), a Max subscriber can add B/R Sports for an additional $9.99/month.
And, adding insult to injury, at this point, Max’s B/R sports tier only offers live streams of sporting events and doesn’t currently offer the ability to replay games/races, which significantly reduces the value of the service.
This means that to simply replace the content we were getting from GCN+ (minus the winter CX races) a viewer who isn’t currently a Max subscriber will have to pay $220 per year ($100 annual Max subscription plus the $9.99 per month B/R add-on), versus the $50 they were paying for GCN+, while a current Max subscriber will pay $120 versus $50.
Annual WBD Cycling Portfolio Cost Breakdown:
2023: $49.99
2024: $220 ($120 for current Max subscriber)2023 to 2024 Cost Difference: $170.01 increase from 2023 to 2024 ($70.01 increase for current Max Subscriber)
One thing to note is that ultra-savvy viewers can decrease this cost significantly and get access to every race on the 2024 calendar by using a VPN and European-based paying agent to access the much-cheaper Eurosport Player/Discovery+ service that is available in most European countries.
This somewhat hidden significant price increase to access the same content reveals the thinking behind WBD’s strategy of shutting the GCN+ service and app down while migrating their licensed content over to an already existing service.
Not only do they get to save significant money on the costs of building and maintaining a streaming service (GCN lost nearly $13 million in 2021, with a significant portion of their costs related to the app and race coverage), but they get to shift their content over to their tentpole streaming service where they are planning to monetize by charging a premium to watch their licensed live sports portfolio.
Cycling might seem like a niche sport with a minimal audience, but if companies want to sell these ultra-expensive streaming apps, they have to bundle all of their assets onto the same service, which allows them to charge a premium for their now-centralized content while lowering costs due to cutting down on the raw number of different services.
Also, even if cycling’s audience in the US is relatively small, WBD likely correctly realized that they also represent a very cost-insensitive group who is already subscriber to Max and willing to shell out for the $120 per year B/R add-on without much fuss.
Is This a Good Deal for Cycling Fans?
Unfortunately, for most cycling fans, the answer is a resounding no. Not only will you have to pay more money to watch the same races in 2024 that you did in 2023, but I would guess that the days of GCN’s ad-free coverage are done, and the Max app will likely fill the race feed with ads.
However, for the small slice of fans who watch a large number of sports and already pay to watch TNT’s selection of NBA, NHL, MLB, March Madness, and US National Team Soccer games (which are also included in the B/R Sports Add-on Tier), it means they (i.e. me) are essentially getting cycling content, which they were previously paying $49.99 per year for, thrown into a package they would have purchased anyway, for free.
In addition, there are marginal benefits of WBD’s cycling assets shifting to the much smoother and user-friendly Max app versus staying on the GCN+ app.
For example, since the Max app is available on every platform (including embedded right in the display of Peloton bikes), there will be a slight ease-of-use benefit versus casting from one’s phone to TV like GCN required since it never developed a Roku or Smart TV app.
This might seem extremely minimal, but for those of us who use the service almost every day a year, these small UX frustrations add up.
All-In 2024 Costs for US-Based Bike Racing Fans
Frustratingly for US cycling fans, three separate streaming services are required to view the entire 2024 WorldTour road calendar.
Cost of 2024 USA Streaming Cycling Services (with ads)
Max (plus B/R Live Sports Tier): $219.99 per year
FloBikes: $149.99 pear year
Peacock: $59.99 per year
Annual Total: $429.97
Annual total for ad-free packages: $564
While the cost increase implications of WBD shuttering GCN and moving their races to Max aren’t insignificant ($170), the fact that racing in the USA is spread between a combination of three services makes legal viewing of the entire top-tier calendar incredibly cost-prohibitive.
For comparison, the NFL’s Sunday Ticket package, which lets viewers watch every out-of-market NFL football game, is $349 per year, and most in-market games, outside the small number of Thursday night games broadcast on Amazon, can be viewed for free with the purchase of an old-school antenna.
While I’m not sure if it will continue to work after the Max migration, a solid hack to significantly lower viewing costs in the past has been to purchase the GCN+ service, in addition to a VPN service, and use that VPN to watch the entire racing season from the GCN app by virtually switching your location to the UK when they races are blacked out in the US.
Outside of this jaw-dropping sum, figuring out exactly what races are featured on each streaming service is very (and likely intentionally) difficult.
A good rule of thumb to follow is that every ASO-owned race is broadcast on Peacock, every Flanders Classic race is on FloBikes, and RCS races plus everything else is on GCN (now Max).
In an effort to send the BTP readers into the 2024 road cycling streaming services buying season as informed as possible, below is my decently-researched best-guess guide for where USA-based viewers can find each race.
Putting together, that spreadsheet was the Lord’s work.
Thanks for this. I'm a U.S. cycling enthusiast, and I've been trying to read the tea leaves. I hope that Max/BR relents on the replays. I have a job in the daytime, and like many, my evening routine during the season has been to finish my daily duties and collapse in a chair to watch the day's replay.