Red Bull Continue Live Broadcast Partnership With UCI

Oct 18, 2018
by Red Bull Bike  
Rachel Atherton performs at the UCI DH World Championships in Lenzerheide on September 9th 2018 Bartek Wolinski Red Bull Content Pool AP-1WUPUBEQ52111 Usage for editorial use only Please go to www.redbullcontentpool.com for further information.

PRESS RELEASE: Red Bull

The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) and Red Bull Media House today announced an extension of their exclusive media production and rights partnership. The long-term partnership secures coverage for the 2019 through to the 2021 racing seasons. Red Bull TV brings viewers closer to the action and has, for years, been changing the way fans experience the Downhill (DHI) and Cross-Country Olympic (XCO) UCI Mountain Bike World Cup. Alongside being the exclusive host broadcaster and production partner of the UCI, Red Bull Media House will continue to retain global distribution rights.

Since 2012, Red Bull Media House has partnered with UCI to deliver live footage straight from each of the global stops of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup. Additionally, Red Bull Media House has had the global distribution rights since 2016 which currently attracts around 50 broadcasters across 104 territories per season. The increased uptake from broadcast partners has shown TV viewership of the World Cup increase by more than 30%.

Red Bull Media House is constantly looking to reinvent the way fans watch and engage with their favourite athletes and programming and seen significant growth in the Mountain Bike audience in recent years. In addition to live streams and on-demand video from every event, Red Bull Media House will work with its large portfolio of print, online and social media channels to give fans backstage access to well-established riders and fresh faces. Post-race interviews in combination with recap videos will provide in-depth highlights and analysis of every race.
For the 2018 season, Red Bull Media House integrated a fixed mounted camera on a motorcycle to provide a new perspective of the races while following the riders closely. With every season, further digital enhancements in production practices have led to innovative in-depth race stats and analysis.

Looking at the 2019 season, fans can expect to follow the once-in-a-generation rivalry between reigning overall women’s DHI World Cup winner Rachel Atherton from Great Britain, fellow countrywoman Tahnée Seagrave, and France’s Myriam Nicole and to see if Atherton can add a record-breaking 7th overall series title to her collection. 2019’s XCO World Cup campaign will also be a season not to be missed featuring arguably the greatest rider of all time, Swiss Olympic Champion Nino Schurter, at the prime of his career and the best field of female riders the sport has ever seen, led by defending series winner Jolanda Neff from Switzerland.

Watch the 2019 Mercedes-Benz UCI Mountain Bike World Cup LIVE on Red Bull TV (subject to change):

April 27-28 Maribor, SLO DHI Women and Men
May 18-19 Albstadt, GER XCO Women and Men
May 25-26 Nove Mesto Na Morave, CZE XCO Women and Men
June 1-2 Fort William, GBR DHI Women and Men
June 8-9 Leogang, AUT DHI Women and Men
July 6-7 Vallnord, AND DHI Women and Men/XCO Women and Men
July 13-14 Lets Gets, FRA DHI Women and Men/XCO Women and Men
August 3-4 Val di Sole, ITA DHI Women and Men/XCO Women and Men
August 10-11 Lenzerheide, SUI DHI Women and Men/XCO Women and Men
September 7-8 Snowshoe, WV DHI Women and Men/XCO Women and Men

Catch the 2019 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup free of charge, live and on-demand, at redbull.tv/uci. And get the latest on everything bike-related at the Red Bull Bike Channel: redbull.tv/bike

Posted In:
Press Releases Red Bull


Author Info:
redbullbike avatar

Member since Jun 28, 2012
634 articles
Report
Must Read This Week
Thank You For Everything, Pinkbike
72907 views
How to Watch the 2024 Mountain Bike World Cup [Update: Staylive Offering Access in New Zealand, South Africa & More]
60346 views
First Ride: The 2024 Giant Trance X Advanced
50569 views
[UPDATED] Final Elite XC Results & Overall Standings from the Mairiporã XC World Cup 2024
41253 views
Staff Ride: Matt Beer's NZ MTB Rally-Spec Ibis HD6
38762 views
First Ride: 2024 Yeti SB165 - Now With Mixed Wheels
37171 views
Tree Root Pierces Harriet Harnden's Foot at Round 1 of the British National Downhill Series
36597 views
First Ride: The Sub-$600 RockShox Domain and Psylo Forks
36186 views
Sign Up for the Pinkbike Newsletter - All the Biggest, Most Interesting Stories in your Inbox
PB Newsletter Signup

68 Comments
  • 192 3
 Hope you guys get Ben Cathro to do some permanent work for ya, maybe have him partner with Eliot Jackson to do some course and qualifying results analysis on World Cups and the World Championship.
  • 80 1
 Red Bull, pay attention to this comment. An Elliot/Cathro combo would be absolutely mindblowing for course analysis. With Elliot's obsession with numbers and stats and Cathro's line choice and course analysis, they couldn't be beaten.
  • 18 1
 @MrMentallo: agreed. Would step up the game at a F1 level. And without norby bs
  • 6 0
 Yes! I would love to have more in-depth analytical, nerdy facts in the stream.
  • 5 51
flag scott-townes (Oct 18, 2018 at 6:11) (Below Threshold)
 LOL yall a bunch of fucking geeks. Hey Red Bull, don't hire jackasses who like to spin the camera when someone is riding by or zooms in too much so all you see is the fork and half of a wheel. Thanks.
  • 2 3
 I came here to say the exact same thing
  • 120 0
 There could always be improvements, but we are very fortunate to get the coverage we get for free.
  • 10 0
 Amen
  • 18 1
 I love the complaints about free coverage. I remember trying to stream races on freecaster, what a nightmare.
  • 4 1
 cookies are never free ;-)
  • 4 0
 I agree. I like the coverage, especially for the price!
  • 1 0
 The only improvement I can see needed. Is more dh dates. I don't see why they have a big gap in the beginning after the first race.
  • 28 0
 Great news, whatever you think of the drink, they do pump some cash in to the sport
  • 27 1
 Thank you RB - usually not a big fan of yours but the coverage is more than awesome. A few more Cameras on the track still would be nice and maybe to broadcast a little more riders.
  • 12 13
 Best coverage to date BUT we want less bike parky autobahns and more gnar. If you want a down slope BMX course than start a Down Slope BMX Race but dont call it DH. To be fair this year was a bit better than last.
  • 27 2
 @Boardlife69: Say that to UCI, not RB.
  • 6 11
flag Boardlife69 (Oct 18, 2018 at 4:34) (Below Threshold)
 @qreative-bicycle: UCI has let RB decide on the courses and how they are built and filmed, not venues, and its clear they want high speed jump lines made for mass TV. I.e casual viewerswho know fukall about the sport. UCI couldnt give a sh#t if it was actually paved with asphalt as long as RB pays the fees and does everything else for them. If UCI was involved in course selection they would be racing down fire roads on CX bikes. Thats what I was told by a UCI insider.
  • 4 4
 Now that I think about it that "UCI insider" was pretty drunk, but not wasted, and the party was down the street from UCI HQ so I believed him. Can anyone who actually knows anything clarify if RB has the right to choose the course?
  • 3 0
 @Boardlife69: for the next season (apart from Leogang and maybe Les Gets?) the tracks aren't so much bikeparky IMHO. I think Valnord, Val di Sole, Fort William and Maribor are nice tracks to watch.
I just checked a POV from snow shoe (or snows hoe?), it also looks fine. So for me it's fine. The really shitty thing was the startorder in prev season bc it made the races unnecessarily boring.
  • 1 1
 @K1maxX: agreed, I was referring to courses from 2,3,4 years ago. Next year does look sweet though.
  • 5 0
 @K1maxX: It really grieves me when they leave the start gate, and then the coverage picks back up at around 2 minutes.But overall i think the coverage has been really good, plus i can watch it on the TV,much to the dismay of the wife lol
  • 2 0
 Agreed - MTB is a niche sport, DH is an ultra niche sport, its no way near mainstream, so good to have Redbull seeing value in it. Cheers! There was a good article or podcast somewhere on everything it takes to set up each race for the streaming. A significant and expensive effort it seems.
  • 3 0
 @Boardlife69: time trial racing cx bikes on a 2ish mile downslope bmx course with intense jump lines might be fun to watch
  • 25 2
 Happy days, now get Warner signed up asap!
  • 15 2
 Its not DH without Warner.
  • 11 2
 @Boardlife69: And give him more freedom to be himself
  • 8 0
 @bushwacked:
the toned-down Warner we have now is just a sober Warner. What we need is for Red Bull to allow him to have drinks in the booth again
  • 3 0
 Feed him pints
  • 15 1
 Can't thank Red Bull enough for the UCI coverage along with all of the other great events that are shown on RBTV. For FREE. I don't personally consume a lot of energy drinks, but when I do it is always, always a Red Bull for this exact reason.
  • 1 0
 Agreed.
  • 9 0
 I'd also like to thank the makers of Water for all the work they do shaping the courses and keeping the dust in check.
  • 3 0
 They have to use red bull for dust control it’s part of the contract
  • 2 0
 @lennyandcarl: It's got electrolytes!
  • 4 0
 @acali: It's got what plants crave!
  • 10 0
 Big thanks to Red Bull for all the free coverage, and the sponsorships too!

Once in a while I buy one of your cans to pay my fee Smile
  • 8 0
 Red Bull drone pilots. Film the whole run?
  • 3 0
 yes, we need more of this. I want to see them chasing them down a gnarly downhill run. That would be awesome.
  • 2 0
 Thank you Red Bull! Love the XCO coverage. My only ask is improve your Apple app. Make it so it saves your spot if you have stop and watch the rest of the race on a later day. Also there seems to be some download speed issues that I only experience on your app. Still though, fantastic coverage!!
  • 1 0
 Would love to see the World Champ DH race folded into that contract--whatever the differences are (even with Rob & Claudio team intact), the Champ race suffers quite a bit in comparison. Cheers to RB for its World Cup DH event coverage.
  • 3 0
 Surely with camera and communication technology advances seeing the whole track "liveish" isn't too far off....
  • 7 0
 It's the start times that cause that issue rather than RB. Only the top ten get large enough gaps between them to show more of the course. Start lists are 1m or 1m30 apart for the majority of riders.
  • 1 1
 It’s impossible on the longer tracks as @jamesdunsford mentions. Riders have started before others finish except for the shortest courses, and then it’s only the top ten as their starts are spread out a little more. No chance of live whole course viewing.
  • 1 0
 @aushred: not really impossible - but it would make the race even longer. It is the same on skiraces and as far as i can remember they cover the whole run. Also i wouldn't be live anymore, more like eurosport "re-live" thing.
  • 1 0
 @jamesdunford: yeah I realise those restrictions showing everyones entire run on the live broadcast, however I would love to see entire runs on replay..... cameras are getting smaller and better communications are getting better. Seeing the whole track on replay should be too far off.
  • 2 0
 I think the technology exists. We could have combination of drones + onboard cams + fixed cameras + a way for the viewer to follow the complete run of a selected rider.

But all of this would require an inflation of the budget. It would needs tons of drones because batteries don't last more than a few minutes, especially if drones have to run at full speed to follow the riders and to have backup machines. It would need relays to get the stream from all the different cameras and send them to the main broadcast relay reliably + some kind of redundancy. It would need some software development to make it doable with all the apps + website. It may need also work to get everything in sync too. I'm probably forgetting some details too.

Would you accept to pay a fee to get that kind of service ? How many of us would be ready to pay an annual/monthly/per event fee to support that kind of service and make it cost effective for redbull or any other company to do it ? I have no idea and I'm not sure I would want to pay an additionnal subscription for this. I'm personnally happy with the current live broadcast + being able to watch replays onboard cams afterwards.
  • 3 0
 RedBull are pretty immense for sponsoring stuff i enjoy watching, thank you RB.
  • 3 0
 Red Bull TV was my #1 reason for getting a fire stick. Free and best stuff to watch on a screen... imo.
  • 4 0
 Did anyone else bid?
  • 6 3
 No PB news on Kyle Ebbetts death? Wtf pinkbike.
  • 4 0
 Cheers Red Bull
  • 4 2
 *cracks open a Monster
  • 2 0
 Wowwwww did you see that??

Look forward to tuning into the Rob and Claudio show in 2019
  • 1 0
 Bring in 1080p/60fps and far better bitrate. Try to be the best. As your athletes.
  • 2 0
 Thank you Red Bull Media House!
  • 2 0
 Red Bull... Sign Ben Cathro up for course preview and analysis, ASAP!
  • 1 0
 This I great. The quality of the coverage has improved hugely since redbull took over they do a great job
  • 2 0
 thank you redbull!!
  • 1 1
 I don't drink energy drinks often, but any time I do I will opt for Red Bull for this very reason. Cheers Red Bull TV
  • 1 0
 Thank you for sticking with us Red Bull.
  • 1 0
 Sweet. Thank you redbull. Best thing for dh.
  • 1 0
 Sweet! Thank you Red Bull
  • 2 0
 Thank you RedBull!!
  • 1 0
 Great News!!! I hope they also do Worlds!!!!!
  • 1 0
 No Mont St Anne UCI stop next year?
  • 1 0
 cathro and more cameras please.
  • 1 0
 Best news of the day!!!!
  • 1 0
 Prognarcore
  • 1 2
 This is a surprise, I had thought Freecaster were making a return







Copyright © 2000 - 2024. Pinkbike.com. All rights reserved.
dv42 0.058701
Mobile Version of Website