British politician asks the Parliament to solve the crisis of cycling prices on TV: "Cycling has saved lives"

Watching cycling on TV in the UK and Ireland has got much more expensive this month. The closure of Eurosport and Discovery+, merged into TNT Sports network, means that cycling fans will now have to pay a premium £30.99 or €30 per month subscription, instead of the previous £6.99 fee, that will include road, cyclocross, track, and mountain bike. And while a limited selection of competitions, including highlights of Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España will remain in the free channel Quest, the Tour de France, the most important cycling competition, will not be broadcast for free.

Traditionally, Tour de France was broadcast on the UK on ITV. But 2025 will be the final year it will be shown on free-to-air television, which has disappointed and angered many cycling fans, not only because of the immediate effect on their wallets, but by the repercussions it could have on the future of the sport in the UK, if new generations cannot access to easy and live coverage of the sports.

The situation is so worrying that it even reached the Parliament, when Conservative MP Ben Obese-Jecty asked "to look at how it can inspire a new generation of Froomes and Cavendishs to take up the mantle". He asked with good intentions, but to no effect: the Minister of Sport said that they cannot do much, as it's not for the government to intervene on decisions regarding the prices of streaming and television packages (via Cycling News).

"Cycling is much more than a sport, it has saved lives", argues the MP

However, Obese-Jectey made compelling arguments, saying that got into cyclocross by watching Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert, and saying that, unlike football, where you can watch it on every pub, cycling is forgotten by the media. "Even just a glimpse on the news bulletin can be enough, but cycling rarely gets a look in."

With the Tour de France 2027 reportedly starting in the UK for the third time in history (previously it was in 2007 and 2014), the member of parliament joked that it will be easier to watch it from the side of the road than on television.

"Cycling is so much more than just a sport. It has changed lives, saved lives, given people purpose, given people freedom, and it's one of our greatest sporting success stories. But like all things, its success depends upon the next generation being willing to pick up the torch. To do that, children need to be inspired, and parents need to be enthused."