Road Cycling - Save the Vuelta petition

There's an online petition started with at this point 209 signatures for OLN to air complete coverage of this year's Vuelta. (There have been messages in the racing forum about this as well as on roadbikereview and the olntv message board, the word so far is that there will be a 1 hour recap show at the end of the race. That's one hour devoted to the entire grand tour. Please sign, it can only help.


http://www.petitiononline.com/vuelta3/

Signed and ready... I think everyone should sign this! LETS GO GUYS SIGN UP!

I signed it. Bastards! They said they'd give full coverage before. What the heck happened?

Koffee

we had full coverage of the Giro, the Tour, and the vuelta Last year... got the Giro, and Tour this year... I can't imagine why they wouldn;t show the Vuelta

signed

jeff

Don't stop at signing the petition. Everyone needs to email them at feedback@olntv.com and tell them you want to see the Vuelta. Be polite but let them know how disappointed you are that they're pulling the live coverage.

Done, I hope it works.

Signed up Fargin Bastiges!

I'm in...Love watching racing...a major race like the Vuelta...has to be have full coverage.

Don't stop at signing the petition. Everyone needs to email them at feedback@olntv.com and tell them you want to see the Vuelta. Be polite but let them know how disappointed you are that they're pulling the live coverage.

It only takes a minute!!! Sign the petition..... Write OLN! Don't expect "everyone else" to do it for you. YOU do it!

OLN should've gotten so much ad revenue from the TdF. Can it not afford the production costs for the Vuelta? And with all the new cycling fans, it should be a winner!

Signed.

#942.

The thing is, they're stupid. The Tour was the most watched, most talked about Tour ever, if I'm not mistaken. They should ride that momentum all the way through the end of the season, get casual viewers to get more into it. I guarantee you that a casual viewer of the Tour this year will NOT watch next year if Lance doesn't race. But they might watch if they've gotten more involved in watching in the meantime.

#949

Don't know about the recent TdF being the "most watched" Tour, but I do know:

- OLN did NOT sell out ad space for the TdF coverage (unfortunately, the almighty $ often rules these decisions, which MAY be why OLN is trying to "scale back" Vuelta coverage)
- Lance's 6th DID get front-page coverage on most major US newspapers - which is a BIG step up for cycling coverage in the US, albeit driven by the incredible feat of one American

How is it that OLN didn't sell ad space? What were those commercials they were showing for Starbucks, Subaru, Specialized, Powerbar, etc.? Those weren't OLN-personalized ads, those were ads that were run during commercial breaks for the Tour. If they were running during the Tour, then didn't they sell out ad space? Besides that, if they didn't sell out completely, it's the fault of their sales team for not emphasizing how lucrative it would be to advertise during a record breaking, history making event. I'd fire the whole lot of them and get a new sales team. If they can't sell ad space for that at the premium price, then they are totally useless as sales people.

Koffee

#999. The Vuelta should be really good this year. Sounds as if Tyler will be riding it. Surely they would show a major American GC contender going for it.

Maybe all the complaints about Roadside Tour, Al and Bob soured the executives toward cycling coverage. :) Cowboys and fishermen don't ***** as much :lol:

Then the best thing they should do is not ask for feedback. And they also should work towards getting commentators at the caliber of Phil and Paul. Then they wouldn't have any complaints, would they? :-/

Besides, we gotta have something to ***** about! Some reaction is better than no reaction, right? ;)

Koffee

Good work so far everyone. I signed on as #208 and it's now up to #1043. Keep up the good work. Post a link on other message boards (i've already added it to roadbikereview.com). Tell the shop guys at your lbs, make as much noise about it as possible. The Vuelta is a great race to watch, and OLN's coverage for the past few years has ben great and I'm sure that ratings have gone up for all three of the Grand Tours each year.

I was 1036 and that was maybe 5 minutes ago

I was in the high 200s yesterday, and the fact that it's at 1036 in one day is pretty good stuff! Let's keep hope alive! :)

Koffee

This is bull****.

Whatever.

Back to CN's live coverage and post-race reports.

How is it that OLN didn't sell ad space? What were those commercials they were showing for Starbucks, Subaru, Specialized, Powerbar, etc.? Those weren't OLN-personalized ads, those were ads that were run during commercial breaks for the Tour. If they were running during the Tour, then didn't they sell out ad space? Besides that, if they didn't sell out completely, it's the fault of their sales team for not emphasizing how lucrative it would be to advertise during a record breaking, history making event. I'd fire the whole lot of them and get a new sales team. If they can't sell ad space for that at the premium price, then they are totally useless as sales people.

Koffee

I said they didn't sell OUT their ad space.

Did you notice how often they ran ads touting the OLN coverage of the TdF DURING the TdF coverage? THAT was unused ad space that they "used" promoting to their viewers what they were already watching - didn't generate a dime of revenue for OLN - because no corporate entity bought those "spots".

I'm hoping that they would show some of the Vuelta up here (Canada) on OLN, last year some was carried on TLN (telatino) But it only seemed to be on late at night... not that I was sleeping anyway... or was that the year before... it's all a blur!!
#1163 or 1136....?

i'm 1140. don't forget to take into account the cult of personality. is lance in the vuelta? hmmmm. it's much cheaper for them to run the 25 most courageous hang gliders of all time, etc.

i'm 1140. don't forget to take into account the cult of personality. is lance in the vuelta? hmmmm. it's much cheaper for them to run the 25 most courageous hang gliders of all time, etc.
oh yeah, if you go to wwitv.com, you can probably find the vuelta on one of several european stations that broadcast full coverage. i watched giro coverage all day on rai sports italy.

Signed!!!

I said they didn't sell OUT their ad space.

Did you notice how often they ran ads touting the OLN coverage of the TdF DURING the TdF coverage? THAT was unused ad space that they "used" promoting to their viewers what they were already watching - didn't generate a dime of revenue for OLN - because no corporate entity bought those "spots".


That's why I said they need to fire their sales staff and get other folks up in there. Someone else posted something about the OLN commercials and said that (from what they heard) a number of bike related products and companies balked at buying commercial space because they thought that OLN was too Trek related and it was the Only Lance Network. Commercial slots for the T de F should have been premium and touted as gold for anyone with anything bike related because so many people were tuning in for such a history making event.

Koffee

There's an online petition started with at this point 209 signatures for OLN to air complete coverage of this year's Vuelta. (There have been messages in the racing forum about this as well as on roadbikereview and the olntv message board, the word so far is that there will be a 1 hour recap show at the end of the race. That's one hour devoted to the entire grand tour. Please sign, it can only help.


http://www.petitiononline.com/vuelta3/

I'm number 1238 :D

That's why I said they need to fire their sales staff and get other folks up in there. Someone else posted something about the OLN commercials and said that (from what they heard) a number of bike related products and companies balked at buying commercial space because they thought that OLN was too Trek related and it was the Only Lance Network. Commercial slots for the T de F should have been premium and touted as gold for anyone with anything bike related because so many people were tuning in for such a history making event.

Koffee

I have no idea what their pricing was, but it's possible they DID price it at TOO much of a premium - which may well have caused those advertisers with products that compete with the "Lance sponsors" (Trek, etc.) to shy away, knowing that OLN would be promoting Lance first and foremost.

IOW, perhaps OLN didn't discount enough to get some of those bike-related companies who were "on the fence", concerned about the pre-eminence of Trek through Lance to take a spot, anyway. Since bike-related companies HAD to know the target market would be pretty "rich" for them on the TdF, it HAD to be price or the Trek dominance to make them NOT use this venue, IMO.

Signed

I have no idea what their pricing was, but it's possible they DID price it at TOO much of a premium - which may well have caused those advertisers with products that compete with the "Lance sponsors" (Trek, etc.) to shy away, knowing that OLN would be promoting Lance first and foremost.

IOW, perhaps OLN didn't discount enough to get some of those bike-related companies who were "on the fence", concerned about the pre-eminence of Trek through Lance to take a spot, anyway. Since bike-related companies HAD to know the target market would be pretty "rich" for them on the TdF, it HAD to be price or the Trek dominance to make them NOT use this venue, IMO.

Even so, I would piggyback my product, even if it was all about Lance. The fact of the matter is, millions of people watched the Tour de France, and if OLN just couldn't sell it because they priced it too high, why not drop the price and sell it for less? It makes no sense that they would continue to keep the price high, and rather than make some money, choose to make no money and advertise their own interests instead. A good sales person would have sunk their teeth in the thought of getting as many advertisers as possible, and if the price was too high, went back to OLN and said "Hey OLN, the price is too high. Why don't we drop the price and get these spots sold? Otherwise, you're going to be stuck with lots of free airtime and not enough money to cover the Vuelta?". Originally, OLN did say they would cover the Vuelta every day live, starting September 4th, with tape delays on the weekends, and after the Tour ended, suddenly it was just a short one time breakdown of everything, with no coverage. Besides that, a good sales person would have angled the sale such that each person who bought space would know they could somehow get the Lance association without the endorsement, which would mean the potential for much bling bling without having to invest the extra money in Lance coming into the commercial and saying something like "Works for us" and having to pay him a million dollars for it.... There are certainly ways around getting advertising. OLN failed to get the necessary money from selling spots, and now, we have to suffer for it. I don't give OLN a lick of credit. What, they just throw stuff together and at the last minute go "oops, we didn't sell the spots!"? That makes no sense. It's bad business.

Hopefully, we'll have a real all sports network that one day will broadcast all the cycling events. I don't think we can count on OLN, and I am actively looking for someone or some cable or satellite channel that will.

Koffee

i only fear I won't study at school next year

...

Hopefully, we'll have a real all sports network that one day will broadcast all the cycling events. I don't think we can count on OLN, and I am actively looking for someone or some cable or satellite channel that will.

Koffee

TKN, "the Koffee Network"

Just Cycling sponsored with adds for Pete's, all day all night, all the time...
Personally, I'd watch, now, if you'll excuse me, I hear the 'spresso pot calling, back in 5!

(and info-mercials for Landrider and airless solid tires to keep those two threads going.)

i was number 1444 this morning.

Signed. #1575

I swear, if there was any way I could do a live feed, I'd go to Europe myself and upload it onto a website immediately. We could cut out the middle man and just enjoy our races online. Hmmmmmmm... that's actually sounding like a good idea! :)

Koffee

I swear, if there was any way I could do a live feed, I'd go to Europe myself and upload it onto a website immediately. We could cut out the middle man and just enjoy our races online. Hmmmmmmm... that's actually sounding like a good idea! :)

Koffee

Woo Hoooooo I'm 1847 and hope it works

Good Day - VÈÑÍ VÍÐÌ VÌÇÍ

Even so, I would piggyback my product, even if it was all about Lance. The fact of the matter is, millions of people watched the Tour de France, and if OLN just couldn't sell it because they priced it too high, why not drop the price and sell it for less? It makes no sense that they would continue to keep the price high, and rather than make some money, choose to make no money and advertise their own interests instead. A good sales person would have sunk their teeth in the thought of getting as many advertisers as possible, and if the price was too high, went back to OLN and said "Hey OLN, the price is too high. Why don't we drop the price and get these spots sold? Otherwise, you're going to be stuck with lots of free airtime and not enough money to cover the Vuelta?".
Koffee

We don't know that OLN isn't very happy with their advertising revenue. Maybe their prices per spot were high, buy maybe the advertisers demanded exclusitivity in exchange for higher rates. Suburu, Coke, USPS, et al may have paid a premium for the time and OLN may have used the extra, unused time that would seem to be "lost revenue" to plug their network while they had a "captive audience". After all, they said this was their highest ratings period ever. Why not use that time to entice people to come back when the TDF is not on. Of course, I'm speculating on this.

This is probably a totlally different issue than the Vuelta coverage. I am perplexed as well. Since they just had their best ratings period, one would think that they could translate some of that audience to the Vuelta. Granted, there will be no Lance Armstrong, and there are many people who watch only because of him, but they should know that cyclist are a very devoted, and underserved group and would probably view in good numbers. Of course, they do have the past few years worth of data on the dropoff in audience from the TDF to the Vuelta and may have deemed it not worth their while.

However, I am unhappy about this as well, and hope we can get some answers or, possibly, change their minds.

Signed...over 2100 now.

makes no sense for them to not run better coverage, perhaps a nightly or weekly summation, to not grow the sport and maximize the investement they did for the tour.

#3170 this morning...

#3232 and if they dont do it, we should boycott OLN?

If they don't, I'll drop it from my cable package. Why pay for it if they don't offer anything I can watch 95% of the time?

I just can't believe they claim to lose money from cycling events, yet when they show flyfishing, poker, and the cattle roundup championships, they are just rolling in it. Yeah, right. :rolleyes:

Koffee

signed

And a little bump to the top. For those of you keeping track we're up to 3678. Not bad from my 209 less than a week ago, keep up the good work.

http://www.petitiononline.com/vuelta3/

Just shot another Email to OLN!

I just signed and am signature #4095. The only reason I got digital cable was to watch cycling events on OLN. There appears to be a lot less cycling coverage on that channel this year than there was last year.

Signed, OLN needs to show the results of this petition to potential advertisers. Bet our buying power is equal to the bull riding watchers.

Very true. I watched almost openmouthed the last 3 minutes of that cattle roundup crap they were showing before the Lance interview on Sunday night (the one at 6pm CST). I can't believe they are so fixated on showing stuff like that, but yet cycling to them seems like a money loser. It was almost insane- dudes on horses chasing around young cows... something about a horse named Pepto-Bismol that was named after the horse that won the year before... Bismol? And the announcers seemed so proud to remember the fact when they were chatting about how great the horse looked as it pranced after a helpless baby cow... :rolleyes: Not like I care too much about cows, but sheesh! Between shows like that, the RV shows, the surfer shows, and the flyfishing shows, how do they really think they have any money making audiences? Why not find sports at least that are appealing to a wider variety of people, especially when they have someone within the sport that is a nationally known name. *sigh*

Koffee

<<The only reason I got digital cable was to watch cycling events on OLN. There appears to be a lot less cycling coverage on that channel this year than there was last year.>>
Me too. Perhaps as well as OLN we should be contacting Comcast.