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
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.
Thanks much Spencer, so, so disappointed and disheartened by this entire situation. Appreciate all of your efforts to keep us up to date. The inability to replay is a major issue with the races on Max and I’m very concerned about women’s coverage. I hope it doesn’t set the surge in women’s racing back.
It is a really sad and unfortunate situation. Two years ago FloBikes was a joke of a service that I did everything to avoid, but now, it looks like the best remaining cycling streamer in the US. Shows how far we have fallen in such a short period of time.
We should know more about race replay and Women's racing in the next few months and I will do my best to keep everyone updated about what their options to access those are.
FloBikes has an app for Smart TVs. It is the FloSports app. Works way, way better than casting from a phone or other device. Buffering was the scourge of the UX experience when casting. I just found the app on my smart TV and have had buffer-free streaming so far.
The breakdown on how to watch next year and its cost is quite handy and useful information. My wife is excited to add Max to our streaming options. Now to hunt out the bundle or discount deals on Max and/or B/R that may be available through some of the other services we use...
The elephant in the room regarding MAX streaming races... no mention of a way to replay a race, even if the window is only 24 hrs. I am in Los Angeles, a 9 hr. difference from Europe. It is impossible for me to watch races live. I am willing to pay the BR add-on cost, even though I already have access to everything it currently offers via YouTubeTV. But if I can't watch races at a reasonable hour, I cannot purchase. How can MAX be this dumb?
Having access to a reply seems so basic in the modern era that I didn’t even assume they wouldn’t offer it.
However, I went back and looked and, unbelievably, Max doesn’t offer non-lives games:
‘In Max, choose B/R Sports at the top of the screen. Here you'll find live games, upcoming games, and highlights from recent games.’
This seems insane since, as you mention, only having access to live sporting events isn’t incredibly valuable and isn’t a realistic expectation from consumers.
They don't have non-live sports, agreed. But everything else on Max is "on demand" and replay, so they know how to do it, right? Let's hope they're planning to put the cycling stuff up on a server. I wonder how much of "no replay" for the other sports is as a result of each league's media restrictions. I think that the major sports in the U.S. are keen on driving people to watch live broadcasts with attendant advertising and promotion. Obviously the cycling industry has been just fine with replay.
Peacock is not showing the tour down under on its schedule and the flo bikes website is claiming they have it and all the races you attributed to peacock. Is that true? What changed?
It’s possible something has changed, but Peacock doesn’t list all their races beforehand and be careful with Flo if you live in the US. They will list races they have the rights to air somewhere (like Canada), but when you actually click on it, it will tell you it is unavailable in your area. For example, if I navigate to the TdU on Flo, it tells me it isn’t actually available in the USA.
So how do we get to watch the Christmas cyclocross events in the U.S.? If GCN+ shuts down Dec. 19 and Max doesn't start until 2024, it does sound like we are out of luck.
Hello Spencer, Great summary. I looked into trying to buy a Eurosport subscription using a VPN dropping me into England and Germany (I hold a US and German Passport) and could not pull it off because, as you say, I need a euro method of payment. U.S. Paypal did not work and a U.S. credit card did not. I tried to apply for a euro credit card, but you must prove residency, so not even a German passport helps. Do you have a hack for that? I would prefer to get the euro feed regardless of cost. It would be easier to access all content in one place and I would jump through some hoops if I could figure it out. Thanks. Bob
Hey Bob, congrats on the duel citizenship! My advice would be to either buy a pre-paid card from a German store or get a friend or family member there to let you use their local credit card/PayPal and then reimburse them via Venmo.
Different strokes for different folks. In Canada we’ll get almost everything road race except the Gyro. Not too bad. I read a big article about Paramount’s owners and my opinion is that they paid for something( broadcast rights) and they just shoe horned into the nearest open spot.
It doesn’t look like they did much about pricing to appeal to anyone I know who watches cycling outside Europe.
Something quick and dirty to use an asset already on the books.
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.
Thanks much Spencer, so, so disappointed and disheartened by this entire situation. Appreciate all of your efforts to keep us up to date. The inability to replay is a major issue with the races on Max and I’m very concerned about women’s coverage. I hope it doesn’t set the surge in women’s racing back.
It is a really sad and unfortunate situation. Two years ago FloBikes was a joke of a service that I did everything to avoid, but now, it looks like the best remaining cycling streamer in the US. Shows how far we have fallen in such a short period of time.
We should know more about race replay and Women's racing in the next few months and I will do my best to keep everyone updated about what their options to access those are.
FloBikes has an app for Smart TVs. It is the FloSports app. Works way, way better than casting from a phone or other device. Buffering was the scourge of the UX experience when casting. I just found the app on my smart TV and have had buffer-free streaming so far.
The breakdown on how to watch next year and its cost is quite handy and useful information. My wife is excited to add Max to our streaming options. Now to hunt out the bundle or discount deals on Max and/or B/R that may be available through some of the other services we use...
Do we know if the womens races will be shown on Max?
Peacock does allow you to subscribe month to month, so I only subscribe the months when races I’m interested are being televised.
After hearing about GCN+ ending, and the thought of those races not being televised, I’ll pay the $170, thank you very much.
Thanks for the summary.
No direct mention of it that I saw but I would guess (and hope) they will stream the same women’s races GCN streamed last year.
The elephant in the room regarding MAX streaming races... no mention of a way to replay a race, even if the window is only 24 hrs. I am in Los Angeles, a 9 hr. difference from Europe. It is impossible for me to watch races live. I am willing to pay the BR add-on cost, even though I already have access to everything it currently offers via YouTubeTV. But if I can't watch races at a reasonable hour, I cannot purchase. How can MAX be this dumb?
Having access to a reply seems so basic in the modern era that I didn’t even assume they wouldn’t offer it.
However, I went back and looked and, unbelievably, Max doesn’t offer non-lives games:
‘In Max, choose B/R Sports at the top of the screen. Here you'll find live games, upcoming games, and highlights from recent games.’
This seems insane since, as you mention, only having access to live sporting events isn’t incredibly valuable and isn’t a realistic expectation from consumers.
They don't have non-live sports, agreed. But everything else on Max is "on demand" and replay, so they know how to do it, right? Let's hope they're planning to put the cycling stuff up on a server. I wonder how much of "no replay" for the other sports is as a result of each league's media restrictions. I think that the major sports in the U.S. are keen on driving people to watch live broadcasts with attendant advertising and promotion. Obviously the cycling industry has been just fine with replay.
Peacock is not showing the tour down under on its schedule and the flo bikes website is claiming they have it and all the races you attributed to peacock. Is that true? What changed?
It’s possible something has changed, but Peacock doesn’t list all their races beforehand and be careful with Flo if you live in the US. They will list races they have the rights to air somewhere (like Canada), but when you actually click on it, it will tell you it is unavailable in your area. For example, if I navigate to the TdU on Flo, it tells me it isn’t actually available in the USA.
Also, I doubled checked and TDU should be on Peacock if you are in the US.
What is a European based paying agent?
Examples?
ciscopitts
Credit/debit/prepaid card, friend/family with a card, or paypal account based in European country.
So how do we get to watch the Christmas cyclocross events in the U.S.? If GCN+ shuts down Dec. 19 and Max doesn't start until 2024, it does sound like we are out of luck.
FloBikes has taken over those races until Max is up and running
Good ideas! Yes. I got my German citizenship last year. Pretty cool.
Hello Spencer, Great summary. I looked into trying to buy a Eurosport subscription using a VPN dropping me into England and Germany (I hold a US and German Passport) and could not pull it off because, as you say, I need a euro method of payment. U.S. Paypal did not work and a U.S. credit card did not. I tried to apply for a euro credit card, but you must prove residency, so not even a German passport helps. Do you have a hack for that? I would prefer to get the euro feed regardless of cost. It would be easier to access all content in one place and I would jump through some hoops if I could figure it out. Thanks. Bob
Hey Bob, congrats on the duel citizenship! My advice would be to either buy a pre-paid card from a German store or get a friend or family member there to let you use their local credit card/PayPal and then reimburse them via Venmo.
Different strokes for different folks. In Canada we’ll get almost everything road race except the Gyro. Not too bad. I read a big article about Paramount’s owners and my opinion is that they paid for something( broadcast rights) and they just shoe horned into the nearest open spot.
It doesn’t look like they did much about pricing to appeal to anyone I know who watches cycling outside Europe.
Something quick and dirty to use an asset already on the books.
Dglenn