After 10 incredible years, we will no longer see the action and hear the voices of Rob Warner and friends as we’ve become accustomed to. Red Bull TV will no longer be the broadcaster partner of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup after 2022. There’s a new broadcast partner from 2023 and it’s still unclear if we’ll get to watch our favourite racing for free.
By Sean Badenhorst
It’s not news, as it was already reported in February 2022, but it’s now become a reality. The Red Bull TV coverage, which has helped build a generation of mountain bike racing heroes, brands and fans has come to an end at the culmination of the 2022 UCI World Cup Series in Val di Sole.
A tender was put out by the UCI for a broadcast partner from 2022 until 2030 and Austrian-owned Red Bull TV wasn’t selected. The new broadcast partner is US-owned Warner Bros Discovery Sports.
This is from the UCI press release earlier this year:
At its recent meeting in Montreux (Switzerland) from 10 to 12 February, the Management Committee of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) decided to enter into exclusive negotiations with Discovery Sports for the organisation and promotion of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup for eight seasons, from 2023 to 2030.
The proposal by Discovery Sports, which was selected by the UCI as part of a tender process, comprises several strands: those relating to sporting and commercial matters, as well as those concerning the production and broadcasting of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup.
More detailed information on the concept developed by Discovery Sports to further drive the development of the discipline will be communicated at the signing of the contract that will bind the two parties.
There has been no further official word from the UCI, but we expect this will come soon, now that 2023 is close.
Discovery Sports represents the Warner Brothers portfolio of sports brands, channels and platforms. These include Eurosport, Global Cycling Network (GCN), Global Mountain Bike Network (GMBN), Golf Digest and GOLFTV powered by PGA TOUR, as well sports programming and content on discovery+ and Discovery’s free-to-air TV networks.
Apparently Discovery Sports will work in partnership with ESO Sports, which it now co-owns, and which owns and organises the MTB Enduro World Series, to organise promote and broadcast the UCI MTB World Cup.
The fact that it already has a large investment in cycling and mountain biking is comforting for mountain bike fans. It’s also a major global sports broadcaster, so has the means to equal, if not improve the racing coverage we have become used to from Red Bull TV.
It’s not yet clear whether Discovery’s coverage of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup will be free to watch as it has been with Red Bull TV. We’re hoping that in South Africa, we have similar free access to the UCI World Cup racing as we have enjoyed for the past 10 years; and that we don’t experience the ridiculousness that comes with the UCI World Championships each year, where SuperSport has exclusive rights and then shows most of it on its live streaming site which is only accessible if you are a Premium DSTV subscriber…
Red Bull will remain committed to mountain biking through its organisation and/or sponsorship of gravity and slopestyle events like Red Bull Rampage, Red Bull Formation, Red Bull Hardline and Red Bull Joyride.
We’re going to miss the insight and unbridled excitement of the Red Bull TV commentary team. Rob Warner in particular has become the voice of mountain bike racing and the soundtrack to the most incredible mountain biking moments over the past decade.
Here’s a classic Rob Warner commentated video on Red Bull TV of South Africa’s Greg Minnaar’s run at Fort William in 2015.
