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There may have been criticism recently of how some
sections of the Irish media, especially broadcasters, cover cycling but it
looks like some improvement is on the way.
An Irish channel is on the cusp of bringing cycling to
the general public after a deal with Discovery, which owns Eurosport.
Virgin Media, which has recently confirmed it is has lost
the rights to Champions League soccer, will soon have free-to-air rights to a
number of sports not traditionally covered in any great detail by Irish
broadcasters.
This includes new coverage of cycling, and sports like
tennis, as a result of a deal struck between Virgin media with Eurosport owner
Discovery.
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The Irish channel has not only lost the Champion’s League
rights but also says it will not bid for the GAA hurling and football
championships.
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Instead, it will focus on renewing its rights to Six
Nations rugby and it has already done the deal with Discover to air cycling and
other sports.
Exactly how much cycling, and what kinds of races, will be aired was not immediately clear. However, Virgin Media has a good record of assembling decent shows and punditry around the sports rights it secures so hopefully that can happen in time with cycling.
As well as most of the top one-day road races and stage races - featuring men and women - Eurosport also broadcasts major international track meetings and championships.
Hopefully Irish track riders may finally get a break in the broadcast media at home by having their events televised on a domestic channel.
We’ll keep you posted as we get more news.
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