Announcing a deal running from 2012 to 2015, Tour de France organisers ASO and the European Broadcasting Union have confirmed that races such as the Tour de France, Paris-Roubaix and others will be transmitted to households throughout Europe.
“We are extremely pleased to give the European audience the opportunity to follow these prestigious events live, and especially the Tour de France, which we know is highly successful in all the European countries that it sometimes crosses,” said EBU director general Ingrid Deltenre.
The agreement will ensure a strong audience for ASO’s events, which include the Tour and Paris-Roubaix, as well as Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the men’s and women’s Flèche Wallonne, Paris-Tours, Paris-Nice, the Critérium International and the Tour de l’Avenir.
The announcement stated that the events would be shown on the ‘traditional analogue general-interest channels’, as well as and on a pan-European sports channel.
It will therefore ensure that viewers will not have to pay digital subscriptions to view the races, thus increasing their exposure.
ASO has signed an agreement with France Télévisions to provide the signal for all of the events bar Flèche Wallonne and the Liège-Bastogne-Liège, with the latter two taking place in Belgium and being handled by RTBF. France Télévisions has a contract with ASO until 2013, and so it remains to be determined who will film the two remaining years.
It was also confirmed today that the EBU and ASO will work together to ensure that the events are broadcase on other general interest channels in Europe. The EBU supplies to 85 national media organisations spread over 56 countries in and around Europe.
Today’s news is a big plus for the sport, and ASO director general Yann Le Moenner said that it would ensure a very wide audience for the races. “The huge popularity of these events and the audiences they attract throughout Europe have not decreased with time,” he stated. “Thanks to the EBU and its Members, these events will be accessible to the largest number of people, enabling the magic relationship between cycling and its audience to continue.”