GCN Plus - streaming racing and documentaries

[MattH]

Just a heads up that GCN have expanded their "race pass" offering to include a load of films. So in addition to being able to watch a whole load of racing either live or catch up - for example UAE tour starts tomorrow, Tour de la Provence is sitting there to watch, as is a load of CX and older races. Kuurne Brussels Kuurne coming up, plus Le Samyn, Strade Bianche (mens and women's for both), Paris Nice etc. All ad free.

They've also got commissioned a load of one hour plus films, with more promised. These can be documentaries - e.g. an in depth look and interview with Colnago, or looking at individual top level cyclists, to record attempts (hour record on an ordinary) or adventure type films. Riding Tour de France stages with 1903 equipment. Climbing a mountain in Chile with bicycles in order to do a 300km descent to the coast - with all the acclimitisation etc needed to do that. 80 days to cycle around the world. They are aiming to put 24 new ones of these up this year.

It's pretty good stuff, and on offer at £19.99 for a year if you get in before the end of February. We'd been happy with that for the racing alone, the extras are a nice bonus.

https://welcome.globalcyclingnetwork.com/gcnplus_en

https://plus.globalcyclingnetwork.com/browse

[yoav]

What platforms are they on?

[MattH]

Android and iPhone, plus you can just use a web browser.

I use the Android app, plus Chrome on a MacBook. Both stream to a chromecast connected to my telly.

[Karla]

Their own app/website

As Matt says, their introductory £20 for the race pass plus some interesting docs (I liked Mark Beaumont's RTW two partner) is a good deal. 

[XP]

[Giropaul]

Very closely linked to Eurosport  which is no bad thing.
Unfortunately there seem to be some licensing issues with some, especially Belgian , race organisers. This applies equally to Eurosport of course. I think it might be the “ Flanders Classics” organisation.
If I didn’t subscribe to Eurosport App I’d definitely be signing up.

[Hot Flatus]

Mark Beaumont pinched one of my Legend segments when he did that Shortest day thing with Hank.  The start point of their ride is 7 miles from here and boasts my favorite cafe stop, not least because the 7 miles home are downhill.

[yoav]

I’m already subscribed to Eurosport as there’s an app for the Amazon firestick. I’ll see if there’s a GCN app also. The Eurosport subscription was due to run out this month but because of covid, they’ve given me a few extra months free.

[Giropaul]

Very closely linked to Eurosport  which is no bad thing.
Unfortunately there seem to be some licensing issues with some, especially Belgian , race organisers. This applies equally to Eurosport of course. I think it might be the “ Flanders Classics” organisation.
If I didn’t subscribe to Eurosport App I’d definitely be signing up.

Excellent news, the licensing issues seem to have been resolved- Nieuwsblad is going to be on the Eurosport/GCN feed.

[SpaceBadger]

And with KBK on Sunday, it's going to be a busy (horizontal) weekend!

[Giropaul]

Just for interest, the Holding Company that in simple terms “owns” Eurosport, also now has the controlling interest in GCN.

[MattH]

I don't think they've been hiding the Eurosport link; at least on their race coverage it's the same presenters and Eurosport logo is present.

They have just added GCN + to the Amazon app store, so it now works on Fire TV without needing to dig out the laptop or phone

Android TV is supposed to be imminent too.

[slope]

Thanks MattH for the heads up.

Me and a couple of others I alerted, have signed up to the £19.99 GCN+ before yesterdays' deadline.

Apart from anything, it's worth it for not having adverts

[Chris S]

Looks like they had a bit of a 'mare with the K-B-K coverage.

We'd like to extend our deepest apologies for the technical difficulties experienced during today's stream of Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne. This isn't the service we promised, nor the one we want to deliver. We're going to look into the root of the issue to try and ensure that something like this doesn't happen again

Probably best to check your infrastructure can cope with an uplift if a lot of folks take up an offer.

I've signed up - £20 isn't much in the grand scheme of things; seems like good value (above notwithstanding).

[andrew_s]

Looks like they had a bit of a 'mare with the K-B-K coverage.

We'd like to extend our deepest apologies for the technical difficulties experienced during today's stream of Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne. This isn't the service we promised, nor the one we want to deliver. We're going to look into the root of the issue to try and ensure that something like this doesn't happen again

I got in from my ride, turned it on, intending to rewind and watch from the start of coverage, and found I'd only missed 20 minutes, but there was only 15 k to go. At the time, I thought it was a rewind limit, so I just watched the whole of the women's race first instead, and the men's race was normal on a full replay afterwards.


For the Flanders Classics races, what I heard was that FC had contracted IMG (or someone) to sell the rights on their behalf, IMG asked for a substantial increase over the previous price, so Eurosport/GCN didn't bite, and it's now a game of brinksmanship, between not selling the rights at all, and not having the races to show.

If that's right, we won't know whether other races missing off the list (notably Gent Wevelgem and Amstel Gold) will be shown or not until shortly before the race.

[Dominic]

After much hype from GCN the app has appeared for Amazon fire stick. When I go to activate the app, it shows me a code and directs me to a link to enter that code.  The link just sends me to their app on my I pad and I seem unable to activate it on my fire stick.  Very frustrating, I am assuming teething issues.

[Dominic]

Cancel the above now seems to working.