# Thank You Versus



## scottie (Apr 28, 2004)

I know Versus takes quite a bit of criticism for their cycling coverage or lack thereof, but the Paris Roubaix coverage yesterday was awesome. They started their coverage with 105km remaining and provided us 3 hours of coverage in beautiful HD.


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## mmcycle10 (Oct 7, 2010)

...+1


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## foofighter (Dec 19, 2008)

loved it, trying to figure out a way to get this off my DVR and onto a file so i can watch later


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## spade2you (May 12, 2009)

No complaints here, other than getting slightly dizzy when they panned the cameras on the motorbike from the cobbles and rotated to the riders. :blush2:


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## MG537 (Jul 25, 2006)

Coolhand said:


> Full HD was awesome. Can't wait for the helicopter shots in the TdF of the amazing French country side, especially some of the castles and estates.


Full HD? You lucky 'mericuns!


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## Coolhand (Jul 28, 2002)

Full HD was awesome. Can't wait for the helicopter shots in the TdF of the amazing French country side, especially some of the castles and estates.


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## weltyed (Feb 6, 2004)

i was shocked to see they had 3 hours devoted it.

yeeeeehaaaaaaa! it was awesome!


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## KenS (Jan 28, 2004)

I was surprised to see 3 hours also. I don't have HD but it was beautiful compared to the choppy blocky eurosport video stream.


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## evs (Feb 18, 2004)

*was it only in HD/replay or live?*

I was looking at it on a crt screen live and only had the regular versus channel and it was on a fishing show. I was so dissapointed. Luckily it was online.
Versus on FIOS...channel 90


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## asciibaron (Aug 11, 2006)

KenS said:


> I was surprised to see 3 hours also. I don't have HD but it was beautiful compared to the choppy blocky eurosport video stream.


my wife was not happy since i told her it was only 2 hours of coverage - she missed one of her shows. darn.


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## AJL (Jul 9, 2009)

+ eleventy! Great job Versus. Credit where credit is due.


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## jhamlin38 (Oct 29, 2005)

yes, vs did a wonderful job with excellent coverage. I really wish that Universal would be picked up by directv. I'll be bumming without Giro coverage. Especially with this yearscoverage!


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## masfish1967 (Mar 3, 2010)

F'ing awesome on the 55" HDTV - more please!


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## Opus51569 (Jul 21, 2009)

The 3 hrs. was great. Here, I can only get it in standard definition, though.


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## LostViking (Jul 18, 2008)

Yes, great coverage of a Classic race.
Nice that they showed 3hrs!

Agree with jhamlin - wish DirectTV picked up Universal.


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## dcfan40 (Aug 3, 2008)

You can buy the coverage of the other 2 Grande Tours and watch it online...

http://www.universalsports.com/premium/index.html

I also agree in that I wish Direct TV would pick up Universal until they do so we can watch the Giro and Vuelta for $35.00 total..Pretty reasonable..it's live and on demand is what they are advertising..


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## Kai Winters (Aug 23, 2009)

I too complain about the lack of race coverage...considering how freakin' much "bull riding" coverage there is...but they do a good job with what they do cover and it is always a pleasure to listen to Phil and Paul.

Can't wait to see Fleche and LBL in a couple of weeks...two days of awesome racing...wheee !


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## Wicked2006 (Jul 9, 2005)

+1 for Versus. They had some good coverage. I was impressed. Great race too!


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## ph0enix (Aug 12, 2009)

evs said:


> Versus on FIOS...channel 90


590 is the HD version.


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## atpjunkie (Mar 23, 2002)

*yes Thank you*

how about live televising it next year??

and yes I'll wake up at 4 AM pst to watch


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## DZfan14 (Jul 6, 2009)

Not trying to 1 up, but I was grateful to get 270 minutes in HD on Eurosport. Best part was no Paul or Phil gush over ever English speaking rider. 

It's great to see Versus show the last 105 Kilometers.


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## ZoSoSwiM (Mar 7, 2008)

Wish I had cable just for the rare cycling coverage. I'm looking for a replay of the race since I was racing Battenkill at the time.


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## hawker12 (Oct 19, 2003)

I have been trying to get my local cable (Charter) to carry Versus HD and they will not. I've written letters and visited them in person to no avail. I can't believe their unresponsiveness and I'm really close to switching over to satellite in time for TDF.


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## Dwayne Barry (Feb 16, 2003)

DZfan14 said:


> Not trying to 1 up, but I was grateful to get 270 minutes in HD on Eurosport. Best part was no Paul or Phil gush over ever English speaking rider.
> 
> It's great to see Versus show the last 105 Kilometers.


I watched the live Sporza coverage, and while it's clear they show favoritism toward the Belgian riders at least it's usually relevant Belgian riders. Their commentators also clearly know pretty much all of the riders down to a T.

Don't get me wrong I'm glad VS. shows it and I watched it there too, but Phil seems to not know who many riders are, often even some of the more fancied riders, he constantly is misidentifying them. Then there is the somewhat intrusive English-speaking slant. It shouldn't really be obvious that he's going out of his way to mention this or that rider from Ireland or Australia, etc. But my biggest complaint would be that they often don't appear to be able to follow what is going on in the race. Not sure why this is so, the Sporza guys don't appear to have this problem. I think it goes back to them, although I think Phil much more than Paul, not being able to recognize a lot of the riders, so when they bounce from one camera to another he doesn't know what group he's looking at. Not so bad if it's a Grand Tour or something, but in a race like Paris-Roubaix it's not good.

Should also add Kelly & co. on Eurosport also don't appear to have the problem of identifying riders and following the constantly flip-flopping cameras.


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## InfiniteLoop (Mar 20, 2010)

Can you imagine if everyone on here were screaming "I wish my internet provider carried roadbikereview.com!" Such an antiquated TV system. Linear channelized TV controlled by cable companies needs to come to an end. Tune in to Uni & VS online!


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## waldo425 (Sep 22, 2008)

KenS said:


> I was surprised to see 3 hours also. I don't have HD but it was beautiful compared to the choppy blocky eurosport video stream.


There must have been no bull riding events or Nascar races on.


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## MarkZeus (Jun 12, 2008)

I recorded Paris Roubaix the other day as well and when I went to watch it, the sound dubbing was off a bit, like delayed. Did any one of you guys noticed that? Pretty annoying. Maybe it was my Cable provider?


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## empty_set (Nov 1, 2006)

MarkZeus said:


> I recorded Paris Roubaix the other day as well and when I went to watch it, the sound dubbing was off a bit, like delayed. Did any one of you guys noticed that? Pretty annoying. Maybe it was my Cable provider?


Mine was the same way. Provider was COX in AZ.


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## yakobo (Aug 22, 2006)

Yes, I loved it as well. Now, how about the Giro. Well, might have to make use of the hdmi outlet on my laptop to hook up to hd tv. But how is it going to look?


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## gh1 (Jun 7, 2008)

Before we start giving VS a hug you might want to notice that they cancelled the Fleche Wallonne recap scheduled for tomorrow for hockey.


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## foofighter (Dec 19, 2008)

boooooooooooo


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## Cni2i (Jun 28, 2010)

gh1 said:


> Before we start giving VS a hug you might want to notice that they cancelled the Fleche Wallonne recap scheduled for tomorrow for hockey.


Really? Darn, was looking forward to seeing that too


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## PMacAZ (Apr 4, 2010)

Great coverage. I just wish they'd bring back the Giro coverage. It was great to see that in the early days of Armstrong's rise, and the resulting renewed interest in cycling. Although, then, I believe the network was still called Outdoor Life Network, or OLN.


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## AJL (Jul 9, 2009)

gh1 said:


> Before we start giving VS a hug you might want to notice that they cancelled the Fleche Wallonne recap scheduled for tomorrow for hockey.


I thought something was wrong. I was pretty sure VS was showing cycling this weekend, but when I checked my 'TO DO' list (Tivo) none was being recorded.


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## AJL (Jul 9, 2009)

PMacAZ said:


> Great coverage. I just wish they'd bring back the Giro coverage. It was great to see that in the early days of Armstrong's rise, and the resulting renewed interest in cycling. Although, then, I believe the network was still called Outdoor Life Network, or OLN.


Well, US will have it - won't be the same, but at least it'll be available.


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## gh1 (Jun 7, 2008)

I like US online coverage of the giro. I think I will buy it again this year.


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## rcharrette (Mar 27, 2007)

*Ahhh!*

Just went to turn it on and nothing


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## yakobo (Aug 22, 2006)

Too bad Univ Sports isn't iPad friendly


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## bbrd10 (Jan 30, 2010)

gh1 said:


> Before we start giving VS a hug you might want to notice that they cancelled the Fleche Wallonne recap scheduled for tomorrow for hockey.



Looks like VS is running it at 1am then 4pm on Mon. Then it looks like the are running the Tour de Romandie the rest of the week.


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## hawker12 (Oct 19, 2003)

My Versus schedule show Liege Bastone Liege at 12:30am Monday morning. Are the rest of you seeing that?


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## hawker12 (Oct 19, 2003)

bbrd10 said:


> Looks like VS is running it at 1am then 4pm on Mon. Then it looks like the are running the Tour de Romandie the rest of the week.


My Tivo shows no updates of Fleche Wallone at this point. Just LBL at 12:am Monday and then LBL repeated at 4pm on Monday. So, looks like we lost Fleche Wallone to hockey in the same way we lost the end of the final stage of the Tour of California last year to hockey and that was only the pre-game stuff. Versus screws the cycling audience again 'cuz it is only the dollars that count. The only way to really fight back is to let the sponsors know you will not be buying their products. Maybe if they complain loud enough something at VS will change...but doubtful. And yes, I just checked the Versus web site to see if Tivo might be wrong and there is nothing new or updated.

PS: Last year Versus did re-air the end of the final stage at some off-the-wall time...and of course it was too late to tell anyone or promote it. So either you lucked into it or missed it.


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## jtimmer1 (Mar 28, 2009)

hawker12 said:


> My Versus schedule show Liege Bastone Liege at 12:30am Monday morning. Are the rest of you seeing that?


Yeah... WTF. I guess tractor pulls and fishing shoes are better than cycling...


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## Sylint (Jul 27, 2009)

jtimmer1 said:


> Yeah... WTF. I guess tractor pulls and fishing shoes are better than cycling...


as annoying as it is, we aren't exactly a huge demographic here...


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## gh1 (Jun 7, 2008)

Yep, so no same day LBL coverage, I picked directv so I could get versus so obviously that doesnt matter anymore.


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## RkFast (Dec 11, 2004)

Disappointed that there is no lbl coverage today. But looking at the big picture, less than five or so years ago getting the TOUR was a pipe dream. 

If we are down to complaining about lbl coverage, I think we are doing pretty good. 

Disappointed but really grateful for the fact we are getting a ton of races on TV this year. All three GT's, most of the Spring calendar, the Worlds. And most of it same day coverage. Thats not too shabby at all.


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## Kai Winters (Aug 23, 2009)

Same offerings here...sigh...

I'll send an email to Versus asking them to provide more bike racing coverage. I hope you all do the same.
I'm surprised at how much bull riding coverage and hockey coverage they show. There is a dedicated NHL channel. Is there that much interest and commercial money in bull riding?


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## hawker12 (Oct 19, 2003)

Kai Winters said:


> Same offerings here...sigh...
> 
> I'll send an email to Versus asking them to provide more bike racing coverage. I hope you all do the same.
> I'm surprised at how much bull riding coverage and hockey coverage they show. There is a dedicated NHL channel. Is there that much interest and commercial money in bull riding?


It's the new Golf.


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## gh1 (Jun 7, 2008)

RkFast said:


> Disappointed that there is no lbl coverage today. But looking at the big picture, less than five or so years ago getting the TOUR was a pipe dream.
> 
> If we are down to complaining about lbl coverage, I think we are doing pretty good.
> 
> Disappointed but really grateful for the fact we are getting a ton of races on TV this year. All three GT's, most of the Spring calendar, the Worlds. And most of it same day coverage. Thats not too shabby at all.


Thats one way to look at it but VS shouldnt advertise the races on their website and then backtrack and they promised us quite a bit when they had the huge email writing campaign when they were negotiating with Directv.


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## gh1 (Jun 7, 2008)

For those without a DVR, looks like VS is showing LBL at 11pm MT tonight as well.


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## foofighter (Dec 19, 2008)

umm try again, they delayed it to air some BS NBA development league game


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