Cycling.tv is a broadband TV channel focused on – surprise! – cycling.
Offering live cycling, highlights, news, community section, race info, a place to download and upload video, and video on demand content – cycling.tv is a fun place to lurk if your a cyclist. Much of their content these days is focused around the most famous race of all – the Tour de France (while they didn’t have live coverage, they had interviews, experts, trivia, clips, etc etc). The site aims to serve old and new cyclists of all ages and all levels, which is why they have 7 channels focused on different cycling elements. While a lot of the content is free, they also offer premium services which start at $25 British Pounds a year. Recently, they made a deal with Joost and Blinkx- the new stars of internet TV – to broadcast on their site.
Cycling.tv In Their Own Words
“Cycling.tv is one of the World’s leading dedicated Broadband TV Channels serving the worldwide cycling community. The company delivers its Broadband Television service via the Internet using state of the art encoding and streaming servers. The future of broadcasting is internet delivery and Cycling.tv has led the way in this media since 2003. The company has revolutionised access to the best Professional Racing by investing in the sport and broadcasting it via its Multi Channel Portal so that cycling fans can watch as must racing live and on demand after the event. To enhance the service we now have unlimited network capacity, no matter how many of our fans want to view at one time we are certain that we can sustain you all no matter the demand.
Our new Portal, launched on the 1st March 2007 will, we hope, enhance our users viewing and interactive race experience. For new and old users we now have full race information, histories, route maps and supplementary material that users can read while watching a race. We have The Inner Tube, our new community section with Message Boards, Video Upload and Video to Video Messaging and many more features. Our Pro Teams section takes you straight to the best Pro Teams in the world and we have many other elements that we’ll be rolling out in the next few months. We have the Yellow Jacket Beach Cyclists cartoon available free and to download plus the online Interactive game.
Our aim is to deliver for cycling fans young and old exactly what they want; from professional race fans to recreational and leisure cyclists, Cycling.tv has something for everyone.”
Why Cycling.tv It Might Be A Killer
Just as more and more niche social networking sites are coming online, so are more and more niche internet TV channels. And why shouldn’t they? Many people (rightly or wrongly) watch these channels during the day at work, and if you are a cyclist…this is where you would likely go to whittle away some time. The site is sleek and professional, and appears genuinely passionate about its sport. I like the fact that they are making deals with broad, popular internet TV sites.
Some Questions About Cycling.tv
Why would someone go on this site as opposed to just watching clips and highlights on TV? Are there not enough TV channels dedicated to the sport that they need a 24-hour, 365-day a year channel? (Hopefully, the answer to that question is yes). How many paying customers do they have? I noticed a contest encouraging people to sign up for their premium services – does that mean they are not getting enough customers?
