Universal Sports Cycling package sux

[roguedog]

Just a rant and warning to fellow folks with no cable...

warning: do NOT purchase the online viewing "package" thru universal. i have in years past and enjoyed it.

they changed the website so you can't find the videos.
you click on the link and it says to find videos in your library (link) but library link goes nowhere.
the confirmation email doesn't tell you where to go find the real-time videos
i can no longer easily find or maybe they don't save the videos if i couldn't catch the real-time one
the site seems to keep logging me out..

and they won't refund my money. they've been "actively researching how to refund" for 3 weeks!! I requested refund next day cuz i missed the paris roubaix and wanted to watch in my free time but couldn't find how to get to video list. :mad::mad:

ergh.. suckage dude. :no:

/rant but still irked

[1centaur]

Isn't this the only US and English language way to watch the Giro non-live for those of us who work those hours?

[AngryScientist]

i fail to understand how i have about 200 some odd cable channels, 99.9 of which air total crap.

OK, i understand "American Idol" and "Dancing with the Stars" pulls down ratings, its not for me, but i get that. but the obscure channels that broadcast totally oddball stuff: off track religious shows, fishing tv, court shows, reality everything. is there really NO market for cycling on TV? i mean, if re-runs of cops gets enough rating to stay on the air, can cycling not get at least as many viewers. cycling is so huge in some countries, how in America, a country of immigrants, can we not justify putting cycling on television?

:confused::confused:

[stephenmarklay]

Yep I am having the same problem. No way to find the premium content I paid for. I think I will contact the BBB for what it is worth. Well perhaps the attorney general.
What they are doing is fraud plain and simple. We paid for the service and they have taken the content down. However they have "managed" to advertise that you can BUY the Giro package on the new site. Priorities are a bit whacked.

[lenny]

i fail to understand how i have about 200 some odd cable channels, 99.9 of which air total crap.

100% agreed.

If it wasn't for football, I would have dropped cable years ago. The NFL & NCAA cartel seem to wipe out all illicit video feeds in near real-time. There's so much good content on the interwebs especially mainstream Euro sports (soccer, cycling, rugby, volleyball).

[AgilisMerlin]

no worries, 1 day delay :hello:

http://www.youtube.com/user/ScumbagwithChromebag

[MattTuck]

Isn't this the only US and English language way to watch the Giro non-live for those of us who work those hours?

Cyclingfans.com has feeds for Eurosport live, which are english language, and better IMO than the Paul & Phil show. I think cyclingtorrents has downloads. Not sure how fast after the stage though.


If any of you are hackers, (I was actually thinking about posting this as a thread) and know how to do shell tunneling, and what not, I'd be interested to know if you could buy an online Eurosport package which is georestricted, but tunnel your way into the UK so that the server thinks you're legit.


The other benefit of eurosport, and a big reason why costs escalate for US coverage is that eurosport is very barebones. not a lot of production, literally, they just have two commentators and the feed from the race. NBC Sports does a lot of production, and then has a lot of commercials.

If I could get Eurosport in the US, I'd pay $30/month just to watch the bike races.

[toolman605]

Yea - My cable company dropped Universal Sports completely. Now we get NBC Sports or something like that. We do have at least 3 channels of 24hr soccer in Spanish though.
Sure makes that $200/mo harder and harder.

[Germany_chris]

Cyclingfans.com has feeds for Eurosport live, which are english language, and better IMO than the Paul & Phil show. I think cyclingtorrents has downloads. Not sure how fast after the stage though.


If any of you are hackers, (I was actually thinking about posting this as a thread) and know how to do shell tunneling, and what not, I'd be interested to know if you could buy an online Eurosport package which is georestricted, but tunnel your way into the UK so that the server thinks you're legit.


The other benefit of eurosport, and a big reason why costs escalate for US coverage is that eurosport is very barebones. not a lot of production, literally, they just have two commentators and the feed from the race. NBC Sports does a lot of production, and then has a lot of commercials.

If I could get Eurosport in the US, I'd pay $30/month just to watch the bike races.

Use a VPN and your good to go, that's I get my netflix, hulu+, and Amazon on demand.

I don't think eurosport even goes to some things they broadcast like Sumo, they watch it on tv and comment. I like eurosport, particularly their coverage of F1 but cycling coverage is meh.

[Honey]

@ angryscientist

most cyclist are motivated to work at some level so they can buy more bike stuff. people who sit at home eating dorritos or that new dorrito shell taco bell abomination watching cops reruns don't, consequently creating better rating for cops/cheaters reruns even though target audience is more broke than I am.

[Vinci]

I've bought the TDF package for the last 2 years, but I'm not likely to get it this year. In 2010, it was great. The coverage played on all my computers, including my Linux desktop at work (most important :p).

In 2011, it played only on Windows/OSX, which limited me to watching the recaps/weekend stages at home. Of course the price didn't drop any.

If they have gotten even worse, it's going to be awfully hard to justify the money for that frustration.

[tiretrax]

no worries, 1 day delay :hello:

http://www.youtube.com/user/ScumbagwithChromebag

Thanks for posting this. Even though it's after the fact, I can watch it here. NBC Sports screwed up the L-B-L coverage due to hockey, and my sucky UVerse box didn't record LFW even though it's set to record cycling at any time that it airs.

[Uncle Jam's Army]

Thanks for posting this. Even though it's after the fact, NBC Sports screwed up the L-B-L coverage due to hockey, and my sucky UVerse box didn't record LFW even thought it's set to record cycling at any time that it airs.

Yeah, that's a cool resource there. Thanks AgilisMerlin! Hope the copyright police don't take it down.

Agreed about uVerse. I'm ready to dump the service after four months.

[Hindmost]

Universal Sports dropped off of my Dish Network menu the other day. They had had some good coverage of what NBC SC didn't cover. I was planing to watch the Giro on US but now I am bummed.

[Uncle Jam's Army]

What satellite or cable tv company still carries Universal Sports? I am only aware of DirecTV.

[Hindmost]

I checked again. US is on Dish Network but is no longer in my "package." A phone call may be in order

[banosser]

Originally Posted by AgilisMerlin
no worries, 1 day delay

http://www.youtube.com/user/ScumbagwithChromebag

Thanks for posting this.

ditto

[stephenmarklay]

The reason that we don't have Universal Sports any longer is not due to your provider but Universal changing its business model.

From there FAQ

"Why has Universal Sports Network made the transition from free over-the-air “multicast” service to cable, satellite and telco TV providers on a subscription basis?

Universal Sports Network had been offered as a free over-the-air “multicast” service that was distributed as a digital sub-channel of local stations in markets around the country since 2008. Sports content is expensive and in order to sustain our network long term, it is imperative that we switch to the business model of a cable, satellite and telco offering so we can continue to provide the world class programming our fans have been accustomed to."

This does not explain why they are no longer honoring premium (pay) content. I have asked for a refund. Next is the attorney General.

I am pissed they are advertising to BUY the Giro which I paid for and cannot access.

[MealsOnWheels]

So how does this whle VPN to access Eurosport work??

[ultraman6970]

You have two ways to vpn, well maybe more but i have two in my mind right now... a proxy server should work aswell IMO

1... rent a VPN service from europe, basically you use a client...you connect with them and then they patch you or tunnel you out, then the guy at the other side will think that you are in europe.

2... a friend in europe with a router that can handle VPN connections (pretty much everything in the market does)... you use again a software.. connect to your friends rounter vpn... same situation the web at the other side will think you are from europe because the Ip from where is comming from is from europe.

There are proxy servers that are pretty cheap, those should work aswell.

[MattTuck]

So how does this whle VPN to access Eurosport work??

I've been researching this. I think you'd need to get a VPN account, like this one. (http://vpnuk.net/) That is not an endorsement of that site, it just seems to offer the VPN at about 5.99/month, and it came up when i searched for UK vpn on google.

Then you'd need to look into the Eurosport Player. The problem is, I can't get a good description of what the Eurosport player will be vis a vis cycling because the site itself is georestricted.

Anyone from the UK that can speak on what this package will include? Will it have life as well as ondemand stages of the grand tours?

[ultraman6970]

Forgot to mention, guys talked about the cycling torrents, they have a lot of things and is relatively fast because a lot of guys are there getting stuff. Usually they have the stuff posted the same day.

another option is steephill tv, they always have several feeds. NBC sports Sucks... they sometimes dont play the things because of a football game and stuff. Remember waiting until 4 pm waiting for the track world cup in kasasthan this year... they never played it.. suckers! :/

[dd74]

Just a rant and warning to fellow folks with no cable...

warning: do NOT purchase the online viewing "package" thru universal. i have in years past and enjoyed it.


The link to log in doesn't even work. And I've logged in in the past.