France TV To offer live coverage of UCI Track Champions League
Public broadcaster France TV is set to provide live streamed coverage of the Union Cycliste Internationale’s (UCI’s) new track cycling series.
Each round of the UCI Track Champions League will be streamed online in full via the network’s France TV Sports digital platform. In broadcasting the league, France TV augments its existing 200 hours of cycling coverage each year, across a wider network that reaches over 80% of the French population each week. The UCI Track Champions League now joins an elite list of international cycling events on France TV’s roster, including Le Tour de France, the UCI Road World Championships and track cycling at the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
The agreement builds on extensive coverage available on Discovery-owned Eurosport, the Eurosport app and GCN+ in France and across Europe as part of nearly 200 days of cycling coverage a year across its platforms. Taken together with France Télévisions’ partnership with Discovery to present complementary coverage of the Olympic Games, viewers in France will be able to follow track cycling and its riders all the way through to Paris 2024.
The French network joins Dutch broadcaster RTL, SBS of Australia, Sky New Zealand, Colombia’s RTVC and Belgian broadcaster RTBF alongside a host of further partners still to be announced in the lead up to the league’s first round on 6 November.
Alongside France’s largest TV network, the league’s host broadcaster Eurosport is already set to bring the events to viewers in Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa and the Middle East. The agreement with France TV was made together with Discovery Sports Events, the Discovery-owned event management business and global promoter of the UCI Track Champions League.
François Ribeiro, head of Discovery Sports Events, said: “Securing this partnership with France TV brings the UCI Track Champions League a key step closer towards its goal of elevating track cycling to a new audience. France TV’s decision to offer live coverage illustrates the confidence major broadcasters have in the product, which is set to offer a world-class viewing experience for fans worldwide. With six broadcasters now announced, we have plenty more to come before the league’s first round on 6 November.”
For France Télévisions, securing the league enables the network to continue to enrich its digital offering on the France TV platform, one which has attracted over 100 million views so far across summer events including Roland Garros, Le Tour de France, the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games.