Cycling.tv and Cyclocross World Cup schedules

[Bret]

So cycling.tv sent me and I assume every other subscriber an email on
Friday reminding us to tune in at 13:00 GMT yesterday for the WC race.
Too bad the race start was actually at 12:00 GMT. Getting up at he
unnatural hour of 5:30 AM on a Sunday morning only to miss everything
but the last half lap is painful.This is the second time I've been
burned by their inept scheduling. Any ideas where I can get an
accurate start time? Maybe Belgiun or Dutch TV listings on line? What
networks are involved?

BTW, speaking of cross on the tube, Apple TV now has a youtube
interface and is a great way to watch the Dronkert videos. Some day we
may be streaming live video through the ATV either through a supported
interface or one of the many hacks.

Bret

[Ted van de Weteringe]

Bret schreef:
> BTW, speaking of cross on the tube, Apple TV now has a youtube
> interface and is a great way to watch the Dronkert videos.

Don't get too attached. He got a take down notice (well, already taken
down by them) for one of the world cup vids (06/07 no. 11, Hoogerheide).
Alleged copyright holder: Cycling Television Limited (=cycling.tv). Kind
of strange, seeing as all the vids are from the same source: Flemish
national tv sports channel 'Sporza'.

Anyway, Sporza now have a free online archive themselves of summaries
and (for a few races) last lap videos, better quality than dronkert can
get them on youtube. Start from
http://www.sporza.be/cm/sporza.be/wielrennen/Veldrijden and choose one
from the list in the top right corner: "Wereldbeker", etc. In the result
list, click the name of the most recent winner, eg Nys in Koksijde. Then
there's a new list titled Video: "wedstrijdverslag" means race report,
"laatste ronde" means last lap.

Also try news:alt.binaries.multimedia.sports and the p2p sharing
networks like emule and torrent. Overview of recent usenet posts:
http://binsearch.info/?max=250&g=alt.binaries.multimedia.sports&a=inhet%40kabinet.gov+%28Ed+Raket%29

(Yes, it is I. No big secret just avoiding leaving a trail for the MIB.)

[Halverde]

On Dec 3, 9:51 pm, Bret <bret.w...@gmail.com> wrote:
> So cycling.tv sent me and I assume every other subscriber an email on
> Friday reminding us to tune in at 13:00 GMT yesterday for the WC race.
> Too bad the race start was actually at 12:00 GMT. Getting up at he
> unnatural hour of 5:30 AM on a Sunday morning only to miss everything
> but the last half lap is painful.This is the second time I've been
> burned by their inept scheduling. Any ideas where I can get an
> accurate start time? Maybe Belgiun or Dutch TV listings on line? What
> networks are involved?
>
> BTW, speaking of cross on the tube, Apple TV now has a youtube
> interface and is a great way to watch the Dronkert videos. Some day we
> may be streaming live video through the ATV either through a supported
> interface or one of the many hacks.
>
> Bret

The problem evolves from the fact that the exact timings of the
satellite feed are only sent to Cycling TV at very short notice,
sometimes just a couple of hours and often a day or two. The
"estimated" time tends to be 1pm for most races, which doesn't seem
especially strange given the tendency for most European race feeds to
start around that time. We're working on making sure the times are
updated immediately after the details are sent to us, but ultimately
it seems a few are slipping through the net. Theoretically, the times
should be relied on in most cases; in reality, for the moment it's
better to be safe than sorry and keep checking the Cycling TV schedule
and the Belgian sites.

I was the guy who came in unpaid on Sunday to send the race out live,
and I think it went well apart from the scheduling error, which I had
to rectify as soon as I discovered it that morning. We've received
plenty of praise for our coverage of the race, as well as the fast
turnaround at getting the highlights out there (albeit stemming more
from being in a hurry to go and see my girlfriend than a duty to the
viewers), so I don't feel particularly unsatisfied by the job we've
done. But I do send my apologies for the company's error that seems to
have ruined both your enjoyment of the race and your morning. Go back
and watch it on the video on demand; it's a great race.

[Bret]

On Dec 3, 5:14 pm, Ted van de Weteringe <myfulln...@xs4all.nl.invalid>
wrote:
> Bret schreef:
>
> > BTW, speaking of cross on the tube, Apple TV now has a youtube
> > interface and is a great way to watch the Dronkert videos.
>
> Don't get too attached. He got a take down notice (well, already taken
> down by them) for one of the world cup vids (06/07 no. 11, Hoogerheide).
> Alleged copyright holder: Cycling Television Limited (=cycling.tv). Kind
> of strange, seeing as all the vids are from the same source: Flemish
> national tv sports channel 'Sporza'.
>
> Anyway, Sporza now have a free online archive themselves of summaries
> and (for a few races) last lap videos, better quality than dronkert can
> get them on youtube. Start fromhttp://www.sporza.be/cm/sporza.be/wielrennen/Veldrijdenand choose one
> from the list in the top right corner: "Wereldbeker", etc. In the result
> list, click the name of the most recent winner, eg Nys in Koksijde. Then
> there's a new list titled Video: "wedstrijdverslag" means race report,
> "laatste ronde" means last lap.
>
> Also try news:alt.binaries.multimedia.sports and the p2p sharing
> networks like emule and torrent. Overview of recent usenet posts:http://binsearch.info/?max=250&g=alt.binaries.multimedia.sports&a=inh...
>
> (Yes, it is I. No big secret just avoiding leaving a trail for the MIB.)

Thanks for pointing me towards Sporza. What worked for me was
http://www.sporza.be/cm/sporza.be/wielrennen/Veldrijden. Don't worry
too much about cycling.tv coming after you. I'm not sure they're
competent enough to dress themselves in the morning, much less mount a
legal offensive. Probably don't have the money either. Anyway, you're
good for their business. I've done the alt.binaries.multimedia.sports
thing in the past, but it's a lot of work and I don't always end up
with a video. My cross friends are bummed because I used to pass out
VCDs but don't any more since i switched to streaming sources.

Bret

[Halverde]

On Dec 4, 12:14 am, Ted van de Weteringe
<myfulln...@xs4all.nl.invalid> wrote:

> Don't get too attached. He got a take down notice (well, already taken
> down by them) for one of the world cup vids (06/07 no. 11, Hoogerheide).
> Alleged copyright holder: Cycling Television Limited (=cycling.tv). Kind
> of strange, seeing as all the vids are from the same source: Flemish
> national tv sports channel 'Sporza'.

This is because the rights to broadcast the race on the internet
belong to Cycling TV, and not Sporza or the fans of the race on
YouTube, no matter what watermark is displayed in the corner of the
screen. That's a bit like complaining that because they recorded their
songs from the radio, somebody's pirate radio station shouldn't have
been closed down.

The UCI have the perogative to request that Cycling TV -- who are, as
far as I'm aware, the only company with the internet rights -- remove
UCI licenced races from YouTube users who don't hold the rights to
broadcast. Let's just consider this one more thing that rbr can hold
Pat McQuaid responsible for.

[Bret]

On Dec 4, 3:34 am, Halverde <Harold.Dal...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Dec 3, 9:51 pm, Bret <bret.w...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > So cycling.tv sent me and I assume every other subscriber an email on
> > Friday reminding us to tune in at 13:00 GMT yesterday for the WC race.
> > Too bad the race start was actually at 12:00 GMT. Getting up at he
> > unnatural hour of 5:30 AM on a Sunday morning only to miss everything
> > but the last half lap is painful.This is the second time I've been
> > burned by their inept scheduling. Any ideas where I can get an
> > accurate start time? Maybe Belgiun or Dutch TV listings on line? What
> > networks are involved?
>
> > BTW, speaking of cross on the tube, Apple TV now has a youtube
> > interface and is a great way to watch the Dronkert videos. Some day we
> > may be streaming live video through the ATV either through a supported
> > interface or one of the many hacks.
>
> > Bret
>
> The problem evolves from the fact that the exact timings of the
> satellite feed are only sent to Cycling TV at very short notice,
> sometimes just a couple of hours and often a day or two. The
> "estimated" time tends to be 1pm for most races, which doesn't seem
> especially strange given the tendency for most European race feeds to
> start around that time. We're working on making sure the times are
> updated immediately after the details are sent to us, but ultimately
> it seems a few are slipping through the net. Theoretically, the times
> should be relied on in most cases; in reality, for the moment it's
> better to be safe than sorry and keep checking the Cycling TV schedule
> and the Belgian sites.
>
> I was the guy who came in unpaid on Sunday to send the race out live,
> and I think it went well apart from the scheduling error, which I had
> to rectify as soon as I discovered it that morning. We've received
> plenty of praise for our coverage of the race, as well as the fast
> turnaround at getting the highlights out there (albeit stemming more
> from being in a hurry to go and see my girlfriend than a duty to the
> viewers), so I don't feel particularly unsatisfied by the job we've
> done. But I do send my apologies for the company's error that seems to
> have ruined both your enjoyment of the race and your morning. Go back
> and watch it on the video on demand; it's a great race.

Thanks for the response. I'm having a hard time believing that you
don't know the start time of a World Cup race until the day before or
even the day of the race. Where I live I can find the start times for
all of the local races months in advance. In any case, if you're not
sure of the start time, perhaps you should make it clear that it's a
tentative schedule. I do appreciate the service and hope you can iron
out the rough edges (no sound track on some feeds for example) and
successfully grow the business.

Bret

Bret

[Ted van de Weteringe]

Halverde wrote:
> This is because the rights to broadcast the race on the internet
> belong to Cycling TV, and not Sporza

You going after
http://www.sporza.be/cm/sporza.be/wielrennen/Veldrijden as well?

[Ted van de Weteringe]

Bret wrote:
> I'm having a hard time believing that you
> don't know the start time of a World Cup race until the day before or
> even the day of the race.

Standard starting time for the men elite is 3PM or sometimes quarter
to 3, like in Igorre (grr! missed the start) and later on Hoogerheide.

Milan is cancelled.

Next world cup in Hofstade, Belgium, 26 Nov
http://www.pro-cycling.be/wc-en/?path=program#id12
10:00 J, U23 11:10, W 13:30, M 15:00 (all times CET = GMT+1).

13 Jan: Liévin, France
Nothing found on the web except "Plusieurs compétitions sur la journée
dès 9 h 30."

As an aside, interesting article found while searching:
http://cyclismag.com/article.php?sid=3791
Network Canal+ pays EUR 1.2 billion for broadcasting rights of the
world cup cyclo-cross 2017-2020. Astonishing.

Ah wait. From
http://www.uci.ch/Modules/BUILTIN/getObject.asp?MenuId=MTI2MzY&ObjTypeCode=FILE&type=FILE&id=MzU0MjE&
No surprises... 10:00 J, 11:10 U23, 13:30 W, 15:00 M.

20 Jan: Hoogerheide, Netherlands
http://www.gpadrievanderpoel.com/ > Info > Programma
10:00 J, 11:10 U23, 13:15 W, 14:45 M.