Guest

I used to roll my eyes like every hour with OLN. But notice- no more cutters. No more long articles about cheese of the region or how the grapes are grown for wine, or other brain farts like that with Kirstin Gum. They even update their commercials now- gone are the "The man who would be king" commercials with Hincapie, and now they have commercials with Floyd instead. About 95% of the blurb segments they do for time fillers are cycling related. There's a ton more tech talk and training talk and talk about past tours, past winners, past riders, etc. They spend more time talking about the past riding history of the riders.

I really like this new way of reporting the Tour.

Koffee

TallRider

I've been pretty pleased with it, too. Just getting tired of the commercials. Apparently there wer few companies wanting to pay for commercials during Tour coverage.

wvxc

Did anybody notice the running drip from the tarp covering the booth after yesterdays stage. I mean it was right in front of the announcers face! All I could think is that would never happen on College Game Day! Oh well I'm just grateful for the coverage.

lotek 

I'm just glad we don't have those infomercials by Chris Carmichael every day.

TallRider

But don't forget about Robbie Ventura

platypus

yep, Robbie's definately continuing the tradition started by Kristin Gum. Good god, the man's useless.

Merriwether

I agree. The broadcasts have been good, and better this year than in years past. The Hincapie point is well taken. I was wondering whether we'd all be wincing for another week to, "...preparing for year eight!". Speaking of rolling eyes...

I like Trautwig and Bob, somewhat to my surprise. Trautwig does a good job of setting Bob up for tactical or personnel commentary. Bob misses the opening sometimes, though. I'm sure he'll be up to speed as the days go by. That the discussion is much more deeply tactical, and less concerned with peripheral matters-- like Lance's trailer, pictures of Cheryl Crow, etc.-- has been to the good.

I'm glad to see OLN making a whole-hearted go of it in the post-Lance era. I hope their ratings are good, too. It would be nice if they could broadcast so thoroughly every year. Does anyone know what their ratings are like this year?

Guest

Apparently the ratings are down by like 50%, but then it'll be up to them to continue giving high quality broadcasts and draw in people as the years go by. More techie segments, talks with more coaches, more highlights about the Americans in the tour and what each are doing for training and how their seasons are going, more tactics talk, more Phil and Paul, and of course, those fantastic views from the helicopter should do it.

Koffee

Nachoman

Hmmmmmm.... reruns of Leave It To Beaver.....or the Tour on OLN ? I can't decide.

platypus

Gee, Wally, how come they gave that breakaway 28 minutes lead? Gosh!

daytonian

OLN has done better this year.
I don't think so far theTDF route this year has done OLN any favors. Pretty flat and to an outside viewer who thinks Landis should be the focus they see the McEwen/Boonen show hyped by Phil and Paul it would probably be confusing who is winning.

Jarery

I'd like to know what their viewer numbers are this year compared to previous. Just out of curiosity.

OrionKhan

I think the ratings are down due primarily to the no-Lance factor.

OLN is doing a better job of explaining cycling to the casual viewer. The Tour isn't necessarily an easy event to understand for a novice viewer. Multiple races within the big race. Different types of riders, etc. You can see the lack of knowledge here on the boards where someone will post a question like "why riders go out on a break when they never make it." Well, they do make sometimes. Sometimes its to take KOM or sprint points away from a rival team's rider. It more complex than the casual viewer realizes.

I think OLN (and Lance) has probably increased the core cycling fan base here significantly. They just have to keep at it. I think they would do themselves a favor if they hyped some of the non-American top riders more. The idea that Hincapie was a contender was a joke. I like the guy a lot but come on. A GC contender, really now? I'm American, but my favorite rider is Robbie McEwen followed by Boonen. They could do a better job explaining why sprinters suck in the mountains and pure climbers (like Rasmussen) suck at TT's and flat stages. I think the casual viewer just thinks its all riding a bike. Lance was good at it all, why isn't everyone else?

MKahrl

I think the video feed is getting better as well. The picture seems sharper and there are less occasions where they lose the signal from a motorcycle camera. I also really like some of the choices the helicopter cameramen make for setting up shots that combine local scenery and cycling action. They also do a good job of showing how steep the mountains are.

lotek 

the video shot on the road and from the helicopter is from the French channel (don't know what
it's called, france2?), OLN just buys the feeds like all the other channels covering the tour.

marty

DrPete 

I don't know--there's plenty of air time, especially in the flat stages, to talk about cheese or wine or the history of a town the Tour is passing through. Adds to the beauty and magnitude of the event, I think. I really enjoyed them, and now that my honeymoon is a bike tour through Provence, I'm disappointed that 1. Mont Ventoux isn't on a stage this year, and 2. Nobody's telling me about the good local wines or restaurants. I was really hoping to get a picture of El Diablo's pitchfork painted on the road on my ride up Ventoux...

There are only so many Trek commercials, er, "tech segments" you can watch over a 5-hour stage...

Totally aside from that, I think that if OLN is going to sign advertising contracts for a 3-week bike race, advertisers should be expected to produce a greater number of unique commercials. Saab and Cervelo's ads are driving me nuts this year.

But hey--all in all it's been a great tour to watch, and if the alternative is no TV coverage, I'm happy. I find myself enjoying this tour much more than during the Lance years. It's fun to watch the Patron stomp his competition, but all of this carnage and uncertainty makes for good watchin'!

DrPete

smellygary

You'll just have to find the wine and cheese on your own.

DrPete 

Oh, I will. Don't get me wrong...

DrPete

PurpleK

I much prefer the OLN coverage to what we used to get in the past with ESPN. I think they do a good job overall and I am eternally grateful for it. That being said, watching the tour for me can be a frustrating experience. I like to see the race, the peloton mixing in with the lovely scenery as it winds its way through the French countryside. Instead, there are way to many commercial breaks (I have really developed a strong dislike for a certain talking gecko), breaks for interviews with trainers like Ventura, breaks for some of Bob's silliness (I like Bob, btw), breaks for Lance's commentary, breaks for yellow jersey moments, breaks for clips from past tours, breaks for this and breaks for that. It all leads to a disruption of the flow of the race for those of us keenly interested in the progress and outcome of each individual stage. I realize some breaks are unavoidable, but I think too much effort is being put forth because the powers that be feel a need to make the race coverage more "interesting" instead of simply focusing on the art and beauty of the Tour. Just my .02.

dereknc

Did anyone notice the wardrobe malfunction of the spectator guy chasing a rider up the mountain? It was just on the recap broadcast a few minutes ago but I didn't catch it when that stage was originally shown. Hopefully it won't draw negative publicity to OLN cycling coverage as the Janet Jackson episode on CBS.

alpe d'issaquah

They just had that commercial today announcing coverage of next years Tour of California...good stuff.

Jarery

LOL i seen that also. I dont recall it the day of the race either. I was waiting for a Bob Roll comment after but none arrived.

ericy

This isn't any different from previous years tours though. A couple of years back there was some damned commercial for Lincoln. Wasn't it last year we had Camelback - at least that is relevant to cycling.

Could be worse though - we could have Billy Mays pitching more or less anything. Maybe I should start a new thread to ask people to try and imagine what would be the most inappropriate and most annoying sponsor that you can possibly think of.

They ought to be able to get more sponsors so that we don't get deluged with this nonsense. For example., you would think they could get Air France to advertise in this thing.

7rider

After watching the Winter Olympics, 24, and the Unit in HDTV on a 50-inch screen, I dream of the day when I'll be able to get Tour coverage in HD quality.

shakeNbake

+1
I like the coverage.

I also learned that you could built jets for a living, but that doesn't mean you can make a car that is not goddam boring and ugly. Seriously, who buys a ****ing saab? So many better cars in that market segment (Acura, BMW, Infinity, Lexus, Subaru, etc..).