You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Looks like its shutting down. Not sure where this leaves the racing coverage this coming season...?
...or my current interweb subscription?
I wonder if this is to force people into higher paying subscriptions?
Watch the video - it seems you can either move to Discovery thing or get a refund. Content is still being worked on but being offered in fewer places...
Darn, renewed a few months ago.
Looks like if you are a subscriber you will get a refund. The only option is then to subscribe to Discovery+ to get all the cycling so £6.99 a month vs £39.99 a year.
I'm disappointed. I'd grudgingly paid a sub a couple of years ago just to watch winter 'cross racing and the Tour, and then ended up watching all sorts of classics and the other grand tours. I'm still confused as to where we're all going now for live racing...
Eurosport does most.... Discovery+ does the other bits and DH.
🙁 it was great having a single subscription at a sensible price.
Darn - can't watch a video right now....how long do we have to watch their films before it gets turned off? To be honest I prefer them to the live racing.
Well, that's me finished with watching live cycling.
Or possibly any cycling.
….how long do we have to watch their films before it gets turned off?
19th December
I'll have to look at the details, but I think for my household it will go from being an always-subscribed service to going into the rotation of streaming services we activate and cancel according to what we want to watch. Having a cycling-specific streaming service was great, and I'll probably stick on weekend cyclocross as usual in the next couple of weeks, but I just don't see the same justification for a Discovery Channel or Eurosport subscription for me.
Eurosport digital sub used to be the same price, has that been dropped in favour of Discovery+ now?
That's a shame. I only got to watch two DH rounds live this year though, and £80+ a year for Discovery+ is a bit much for that - although if you can switch it on and off then it's less than 6 months (£42) to cover the DH calendar and you could even switch off for much of July and August.
I'll probably just go back to watching highlights and Cathro's videos though.
Surprising, but not a huge loss for me and might even be a slight bonus. I only use it for race coverage, and every June I always wonder if I should switch to Discovery to get Le Mans coverage - so that issue is now solved.
Will be interesting to see how the use the GCN YouTube shows to drive people towards the Discovery subscription
£80+ a year for Discovery+
ooft, that's gone up since I last looked Edit: because I was thinking of Eurosport
the trouble is though Discovery isn't ad free - only GCN+ is/was - which was the whole reason I went with them 🙄The only option is then to subscribe to Discovery+ to get all the cycling so £6.99 a month vs £39.99 a year.
Only subscribed this year for the TdF but also found loads of cool little documentary films on bike packing, adventures etc on there, wonder where they will be available now?
.
I've had a scroll through the Discovery+ web interface, and I think it's a nope from me. It's a pity - I thought GCN+ was great for making race coverage so accessible - but Discovery+ is a poor like-for-like replacement and it says it contains advertising even after paying a costly subscription. Sad times.
Dumb question, how does one actually get/view discovery plus?
We have a dumb TV with basic freeview (even considering cancelling the TV liceince given how little we use it) and a PS4/connect to ipad for netflix, amazon prime, gcn etc.
On the plus side I bought a year's sub whenever the Nove mesto XC was (pretty much cost the same as 6-7 months of pay monthly, and thought I might get into winter 'cross or something) so should get a few months refunded.
not sure if they also have their own app, but you can get it via Prime as a sub-channel (costs extra, obvs)Dumb question, how does one actually get/view discovery plus?
Well that's thoroughly ticked me off.
So can you watch races that were say a week ago on either of the other platforms? I rarely have time for live cycling but do watch CX on an evening etc.
Seems like a good idea to me - I sub to discovery+ and don't want to spend the extra for the few films that gcn+ produced that I'd want to watch. They may publish some of the more widely watched/popular films onto discovery apparently.
So can you watch races that were say a week ago on either of the other platforms?
Discovery+ yes for sure.
I signed up for the GTs but stayed for the really rather good films and of course (as it turned out) the DH coverage. This really does suck balls, especially as the Discovery Plus is going to have ads as well.
Pretty poor decision.
Subscribed to watch the DH - got a discounted annual pass for £24 which didn't seem too bad. There are a few other documentaries I've watched, but not much.<br />I guess I'll have to go month-by-month on Discovery+ now which will cost double. I'm still going to do it though - watching the live DH broadcasts is the only live TV thing I watch any more (no news/sports/celeb stuff/etc).
Discovery Plus is going to have ads as well
Not currently it doesn't.
not sure if they also have their own app
They do.
It is possible to watch ad free on Europsort and Discovery+. I've definitely done this in previous years. Takes a bit of time to get used to the discovery app but it's ok, I found gcn+ more clunky.
Not currently it doesn’t.
On the support page - clicked through from the GCN+ site it says that they'll have a limited number of ads in the on-demand content. And says that ads appear already in the live channels?
But if you're saying they don't, perhaps that's a different country/region?
Seems like a good idea to me – I sub to discovery+ and don’t want to spend the extra for the few films that gcn+ produced that I’d want to watch.
Conversely, I ditched my Eurosport On Demand sub when GCN+ came along because I wasn't interested in any of the non-cycling content. Now if I want to watch any cycle racing (Road,XC, DH, Cyclocross) I need to subsidise Discovery's entire content library by paying more than double the amount GCN+ cost for stuff I have no interest in and won't watch.
This is a horrible decision by WBD and combined with the 'controversy' with their takeover of UCI MTB racing this past season, I am very worried that this is the beginning of a dark period for access to cycling content. I can't help but wonder how long it is before Discovery ditch their cycling interests because it's 'not performing' due to them putting it behind a paywall that the fans either can't or won't pay for.
The fact that the £6.99 pm Discovery+ sub that will now be needed still has ads on it is even more of a kick in the teeth. If I do end up caving to get my racing fix then I'll be damn sure to deactivate the sub for any months it's not actively in use.. GCN+ I was happy to just let run on it's annual sub even though I never used it during the off-season.
I'm on Virgin media and of course they don't include DiscoveryPlus, 🙄 So it's the app and chrome casting for me if I want to watch DH. As it's the same price as GCN+ I guess I'll do that then?
@Chipps, I'll send you my log in 🤣
I'm a Eurosport subscriber, and all race coverage is available ad-free. I never bothered with GCN+ as I also wanted to watch the WEC, ski-ing, etc The only thing I missed out on were the GCN documentaries....
To be honest, did it make any sense to have Eurosport Player, GCN+, GCN app, as well as Eurosport/ Discovery? Probably not....just a case of cutting costs/ streamlining their services....
On the support page – clicked through from the GCN+ site it says that they’ll have a limited number of ads in the on-demand content. And says that ads appear already in the live channels?
There's 2 feeds on Discovery if an event has been on Eurosport. There's the 'live viewing' and the Eurosport. Both next to eachother on the catch-up. I have no idea if the Eurosport one has the adverts from TV, because i just click on the other one, which i can promise you, does not.
does this we'll lose them as commentators? are we stuck with even more Carlton Kirby?
I’m a Eurosport subscriber
Sorry - I might be being thick here - is there still Eurosport available as a subscription - I thought it had already be consumed into discovery....
Not sure if it's common knowledge on here but it seems that Play Sports Network (the trading name for the company that creates GCN/GMBN/EMBN/GTN etc.) is either already or about to be up for sale by WBD. Seems they have stripped out the PPV cycling content and decided to ditch the YouTube content. Will be curious to see how many of the GCN/GMBN team who are involved in the live coverage stay with WBD.3
Either way it'll be a lose-lose for cycling fans, the GCN merger into Discovery/Eurosport dramatically improved the commentary and the racing coverage both within and outside of the subscription content and made finding and accessing that content much easier as it was all in the one place.. now we'll be forced to dig through piles of other content that Discovery want to force on us to find what we want to watch.. like back in the bad old days of Eurosports 'creatively fluid' schedule.!!
If you have Sky, Discovery + is free for Sky Q, Glass and Stream customers. I have been using it since March to watch all of the MTB, Le Mans and the current CX racing. So far, all free of adverts.
Sorry – I might be being thick here – is there still Eurosport available as a subscription – I thought it had already be consumed into discovery….
My understanding is that Eurosport is still a separate thing in parts(?) of continental Europe, but most of it now only exists within Discovery+, I don't think the Eurosport On Demand app is still a thing. Not in the UK anyway.
free for Sky Q, Glass and Stream customers
Without wishing to be snarky, how much does that cost.?? I'm guessing a fair bit more than £35 a year.!
According to the GCN announcement Eurosport still seems to be an option in Europe:
"In Europe, GCN+ subscribers will now have the option to subscribe to access Discovery+, Eurosport or Eurosport Extra, where you can continue to watch live cycling".
Eurosport is £39.99 pa at the moment.
Whether coverage will be available "on demand" isn't clear.
Also no idea what happened to GCN+ films and documentaries present or future.
Discovery+ is a poor like-for-like replacement and it says it contains advertising even after paying a costly subscription. Sad times.
The live feeds don't if one chooses correctly.
does this we’ll lose them as commentators? are we stuck with even more Carlton Kirby?
Even better the live feeds can be watched sans commentary just the sounds of bikes and the crowd. Bit tricky if one doesn't have a team sheet to refer to for all of the peleton.
tenfoot
Full Member
If you have Sky, Discovery + isfreeincluded for Sky Q, Glass and Stream customers. I have been using it since March to watch all of the MTB, Le Mans and the current CX racing. So far, all free of adverts.
Nothing is free on Sky.
Without wishing to be snarky, how much does that cost.?? I’m guessing a fair bit more than £35 a year.!
£30/month (although there are always offers) if you want standard Netflix, slightly less (£26) if you can handle the basic version
Back to the old days of recording on Eurosport, then playing catch-up when the other half goes to bed and frees up telly.
So lots of lates nights, usually half asleep and praying it's not recorded 4 hours of snooker.
I thought it was too good to last.
Just received my GCN+ email. Zero mention of switching over to another service, which seems odd
Eurosport shows nearly all the cycling I want to see, it's only £40 a year for subscription.
Didn't someone call this when they made the bid and it was pointed out they have history for just canning stuff? "Oh no they wouldn't" was the response. IIRC
I found the GCN subscription running parallel to Eurosport a bit confusing TBH.
Was GCN+ a success?
If so....
Maybe they've realised they'd under priced the subscription and will relaunch it next year with a few tweaks with a hefty price rise.
If not, then...
Maybe it's services will go back to they used to be, on YouTube.
I don't think you switch from what I made of it, you'll get an auto-cancel and refund.
Watched the vid now - that's a shame.
I won't be looking for an alternative or heading towards Discovery. For me the £30 odd was about what it was worth. Especially because the smart TV and the roku stick I have didn't work with GCN+ so watching on a proper sized screen was always a faff so I didn't use it as much as I should.
I'd have paid similar or a bit more for a old school eurosport style service of a bit of bike racing and a bit of winter sport (always partial to biathlon and ski jumping for some reason) but there is no way I could ever justify £30pm for a discovery+ sub.
So end of the road me. Best I watch a few of their cycle specific documentaries before they disappear.
edit -
Eurosport shows nearly all the cycling I want to see, it’s only £40 a year for subscription.
could you post a link to where you get eurosport for that price - this is all I can find.... https://get.discoveryplus.com/gb/watch-eurosport-on-discoveryplus?cnt=gb&utm_campaign=WW-EU-D1-EU-C7-EU-BAU-DR-W-AllSports-Undefined-220101-NA&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=eurosport.com&utm_content=home-top-banner-subscribe
Haze
Full Member
I don’t think you switch from what I made of it, you’ll get an auto-cancel and refund.
Yup that's it, but I assumed they'd at least suggest you go have a look at spendign your money on Discovery instead
Didn’t someone call this when they made the bid and it was pointed out they have history for just canning stuff? “Oh no they wouldn’t” was the response. IIRC
I was saying that I wouldn't be surprised if DH went the same way as Batgirl. I wasn't expecting them to get rid of the whole of GCN+.
Looking at this from a non-EU person POV, does that mean most people in the world won't be able to watch DH now?
didnthurt
Full Member
Eurosport shows nearly all the cycling I want to see, it’s only £40 a year for subscription.
Except going to Eurosport now sends you on to Discovery instead
I’m a Eurosport subscriber, and all race coverage is available ad-free
Really? I get Eurosport through my Sky package, still waiting for Niels and Dendermonde highlights 🙄
So to summarise, it's £6.99 pm for Discovery+ standard to catch up on racing that I can't watch live. And there's no additional content on-demand, just what's been on Eurosport already...including adverts?
Might be cheaper to upgrade our VM to multi-room and watch it in the kitchen, doesn't solve the Eurosport scheduling issue though...
If we take a step back for a minute and think about what this means for mountain biking, it's actually quite serious.
It sounds like UK based folk have options that aren't that much more expensive than GCN+ (although still more expensive for a poorer service) but that's not the case across Europe. My only option to watch live cycling on Discovery+ would cost £18 per month (annual subscription) and is just not worth it for me. And the rest of the World is currently completely cut off from watching mountain biking at all.
If teams weren't sure about competing next year this is really not going to help.
Except going to Eurosport now sends you on to Discovery instead
Just checked my Eursports app and if still looks the same and doesn't mention Discovery that I can see.
Although it doesn't have the weekend's CX highlights, it does have the full races, you can even select the commentary language for that real Belgium feel.
I think Eurosport and discovery are linked / one and the same in the UK - it's only some other parts of Europe where Eurosport is still a thing?
This thread kinda sums up my feelings about it really, lots of different people subscribing to multiple platforms that provide similar/same/cross content. The people who will loose out are those that only sub to gcn+ with no access to other platforms or now will have more expensive access through discovery+ with additional content that they aren't interested in.
FWIW for those wondering about migrating...
I went with Discovery+ at the start of 2023 as I couldn't bear not watchng the DH and - I thought it was great.
I also used to on/off subscribe to Eurosport player for specific events, (Le Mans 24h) so to have that in the same place works great.
App on phone works great. App on Google TV works great. Casting works great video and audio quality good.... I was happy to pay for it and will do again once the seasons starts up in the new year.
(it also works through a browser window unlike NowTv, Netflix etc making it usable on all devices - this is a big thing!)
Eurosport's app can be very clunky with some events/races stuffed into a difficult to define genres and subgenres which does not help with navigation around when looking for something specific. I've also had some races being totally missnamed and also some clipped to miss the beginning or end of the race. But..... Its pretty cheap and does allow me access to diverse selection of events advert free.
I just want to watch the top 3 DH runs and highlights on YouTube + behind the lines by Cathro. Would be more than happy to pay per race like renting a movie. Not interested at all in any subscription service hitting my bank account that I have to remember or navigate to.
Does anyone know if you get Discovery+ through a sky subscription can you then watch anything via the Discovery+ app. I know you can get Eurosport in the Sky App, but not Discovery+ as that is an"app" on the SkyQ box
Here's the wording of the email I got an hour or so ago, which ai presume is the same as for the rest of you that subscribe too. 
On the other hand being a Sky subscriber discovery+ is included for free. There was a point when sports on the app wasn't included but that changed earlier this year.
As an app app there was more available, the built in sky glass app was limited on catch up stuff, or at least the app had a better interface.
What a crying shame. Apart from ITV4 showing whatever cycle racing it can (usually Le Tour and Tour of Britain). GCN was fantastic for our cycling mad house.
Although it was time that Sean went.
They'll need to open an onlyfans for the GCN+ vids
robertajobb you'll be safe now as it's been owned by Comcast for a few years now.
Not good news! I paid the £40 annual fee for the DH. Enjoyed the coverage but think I’ll get the partial refund and survive on YT highlights next year🙁
This is really sad. The team were putting out great content. Got gcn for the cross but stayed for the spring classics and wall to wall coverage of bike racing across all disciplines.
What is happening to MTB? It's gone for free on red bull to part of a subscription?
Happy to subscribe as the £/HR is low. Not sure what I'd go for. Only really interested in cycling. Only other TV I watch is on demand stuff from the free sources like C4, BBC and ITV.
Seems like another regressive move for the paying punter. I get Eurosport on Virgin but paid the extra £20 a month for the Eurosport app when it was available to allow me to watch highlights and catchup at a time (and place) that suited me. I was gutted when they ditched the app in favour of GCN, but I grudgingly paid for that at twice the price (£40). The app was a bit ropey at times - hard to find highlights, and video quality was highly variable.
I'll probably give the Discovery+ thing a try but to me it's removing choice and increasing price for the punter. In an age where piracy is a growing problem for broadcasters, this seems very short sighted.
I’m more than a little miffed - I love GCN+
I’ve had Discovery+ & it’s utterly shite. Some content never appears, it doesn’t have a functional catch-up service so you can’t watch the cycling when you want; the highlights programmes sometimes never materialise; the fast forward & rewind function is a lottery… it’s possibly the worst streaming service I’ve ever used, & was the reason I got a fire stick & GCN subscription.
As some have said above, this is the end of me watching cycling. ****ing great one..!
I never bothered with gcn as it seemed to have the same cycling content as Eurosport without the winter sports and motor racing for the same price. I'm hoping than my Eurosport sub keeps renewing as I'm not going to pay £7 / month for discovery.
It is not great that a cycling specific platform is shutting down, however I do not see this as the end of the world.
From what I gathered, all of the flag to line cycling coverage was effectively simulcast on GCN+ and Discovery+ . I watched on GCN+ but I distinctly remember the commentators noting that TV viewers would leave for an ad break whereas GCN+ & Discovery+ viewers would stay for uninterrupted coverage (ie no adverts).
So for me this is win-win, I get the cycling and access to other sports, but don't get access to the documentaries which to be honest, I didn't watch.
So for me this is win-win, I get the cycling and access to other sports, but don’t get access to the documentaries which to be honest, I didn’t watch.
For a lot more money. Simon's deal above appears to not be available as a new sign ups.