For those that were annoyed with Universal Sports, don't worry, it's shutting down.

someone got conned big time on this one

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 14, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Universal Sports Network and the World Surf League (WSL) announced today a distribution agreement to air the 2015-16 WSL Big Wave Tour, bringing the world's biggest surfing events direct to fans in the United States. The deal gives the year-round home to Olympic, endurance and action sports programming exclusive TV Everywhere broadcast rights and event re-broadcast rights during the upcoming WSL Big Wave season which opens October 15, 2015.

Comprised of seven potential event sites across three continents, the WSL's Big Wave Tour tests the physical and mental skills of 24 of the best big wave surfers. Competition dates are scheduled for windows when the weather and surf are expected to combine to produce giant waves, 25-feet tall and higher, and events are given a "Green Alert" with only 72-hours' notice, adding to the anticipation for both the athletes and fans.

Through the partnership, Universal Sports will air the following four Big Wave Tour events either live or on delay during the October 15, 2015 – February 28, 2016 competition window:

•Oregon Challenge (Lincoln City, Oregon)

Here is an article on it:

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Closing-Bell/2015/10/21/universal.aspx

At least NBCSN is broadcast in HD. Their coverage of cycling is much better as well for those into that sort of thing.

What about those of us that are into running?

You really don't think they had a contingency or an out in the contract.

duhhghalglggl wrote:

[quote]In good faith negotiations wrote:

someone got conned big time on this one

You really don't think they had a contingency or an out in the contract.

Perhaps conned is the incorrect word for this situation

"What about those of us that are into running?"

-this cracked me up. Pretty poignant with the direction that this board has gone over the years. Heck, even the owner puts up baseball threads. Weird.

Indeed. It's hard to find posts about running.

False advertising wrote:

"What about those of us that are into running?"

-this cracked me up. Pretty poignant with the direction that this board has gone over the years. Heck, even the owner puts up baseball threads. Weird.

I'll miss it. They need to have "a la carte" for all channels.

Sucks. I used to have the original Voom HD channels too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voom_HD_Networks

The quality of the Voom HD channels has never reappeared. They either overcompress the streams or use lousy cameras for HD.

Also a story about espn laying off 4.3% of workforce.

Cable is slowly dying and will be gone in less than 20 years. They have lost 10% of subscribers over the last couple years. People finally got tired of content such as sports contests being held hostage and only shown on a station most don't get on their regular package. They also got tired of whole blocks of shows being taken off as the stations and providers fought over who was going to get the most of your big increased cable bill.

NBCSN's coverage is indeed much better. Perhaps Eurosport will get a distribution deal in the US?

dead like Kmart wrote:

Cable is slowly dying and will be gone in less than 20 years. They have lost 10% of subscribers over the last couple years.

Also print media, right? And radio? Oh wait, those were dead years ago, according to blanket statements repeated over and over like this. There is too much infrastructure for cable to simply disappear. Smaller, yes. Gone, no.

So what does this mean for subscribers ..? Read the article; unsure what the future of the broadcasts. Does this mean a new name or a complete dropping of all the programming..?

LetsRun.com wrote:

Here is an article on it:

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Closing-Bell/2015/10/21/universal.aspx

I think the savvy people at beinSports may pick up whatever is worth picking up. They seem to be expanding their selection of international sports online. The Diamond League meets are safe there and as far as trials, anything not coveted by NBC/ESPN for prime time tape delayed packaging I'm sure will be found on usatf.tv.

duhhghalglggl wrote:

You really don't think they had a contingency or an out in the contract.

Universal will likely try and sell the contract.

Bein has done a good job as well, except for their app which is terrible.

This year has had more big cycling races televised in the states than any other, and it's been awesome. Hopefully someone steps in to pick these up, and maybe they leave Gogo off the coverage team.

Wrong. Cable companies are heavily invested in the internet business.

ESPN shows the same sports over and over. I don't mind during football season, but the rest of the year, who cares?

Universal had lost the rights to the Diamond League.

They do own the World Championships rights but NBC will just buy that from them.

I don't think them shutting down is a bad thing for the sport. It shows how little demand there is for this type of content and just re-running the same thing over and over.

If NBCSN would pick up some of the stuff and put it on its channel and reach a bigger audience, the sport could benefit.

There will always be a way for hard core fans to watch whatever obscure sport they are into. You can PPV badminto I bet. The question is can track get before a bigger audience?

For what it's worth, I watchd most of world's on a skeezy site called watchathletics.com

I have to be ready to jump through hoops to get my feed, clicking willy-nilly here and there on the site to see the races, and empty lots of cookies, etc. but I was able to watch a lot of the meet, happily. As I live in the boonies (southern Mexico), I was happy to have this questionable site to see some action with!!!