[DragonQ]

Hi all, just wanted to see if people thought Eurosport was worth £2.50 per month or not?

I'm interested in the tennis they show but since ITV now have the French Open and the BBC have Wimbledon, do Eurosport have exclusive coverage of the US or Australian Opens? Motor sport is kinda cool but again, the main one (Moto GP) is on the BBC.

Thoughts welcome!

[jeffersbnl]

If you like winter sports or cycling then it certainly would be. Along with motor sports and womens tennis they're the staples of Eurosport.

They do have extensive coverage of the Australian Open for at least the next two years (rights to 2014). Theres live coverage through the night- certainly on British Eurosport, possibly on British Europsort 2 as well.

The situation with the US Open is more complicated- whilst Eurosport have Europe wide rights in the UK Sky Sports are the primary rights holders and are able to pick a number of matches each day (think its one or two) that are exclusive to them- so for example you won't see any Andy Murray matches live on Eurosport and possibly some other big matches. You won't see anything live from the Quarter Final stages onwards- only delayed coverage the next morning.

Sky also seem to have exclusive HD rights for the US Open as the coverage on Eurosport HD is just the upscaled British Eurosport coverage. Normally Eurosport HD follows the international Eurosport - leading to occasional schedule differences from the UK version and sometimes the channel going blank because they don't have UK rights to a particular event.

[ftv]

Never watch it

[Gordie10]

About the only thing I've watched on Eurosport in the last few years has been the Le Mans 24-hour race. So it's a "no" from me.

Originally Posted by jeffersbnl

They do have extensive coverage of the Australian Open for at least the next two years (rights to 2014).

Extensive, but not exclusive.

[DragonQ]

OK so if I didn't get Eurosport but had Sky Sports, ESPN and the standard PSB channels, what coverage would I get of the Tennis Grand Slams? What about some other major tournaments (e.g. Queens)?

[The Wanderer]

Originally Posted by DragonQ

OK so if I didn't get Eurosport but had Sky Sports, ESPN and the standard PSB channels, what coverage would I get of the Tennis Grand Slams? What about some other major tournaments (e.g. Queens)?

You'd be fine - you'd have pretty much full coverage of Wimbledon, the US and the French Open. However the Australian is now mainly on Eurosport, but the BBC still have both singles finals and one semi final

Also the BBC have Queens, Sky cover the ATP 1000 events and ESPN now show a few ATP events

I'm sure you could also just add Eurosport for one month to coincide with the Aussie Open, then you're covered!

[LOSG]

Originally Posted by Gordie10

Extensive, but not exclusive.

It's as good as. The BBC only showed the Murray semi-final and the final this year!

[bluesdiamond]

Originally Posted by DragonQ

OK so if I didn't get Eurosport but had Sky Sports, ESPN and the standard PSB channels, what coverage would I get of the Tennis Grand Slams? What about some other major tournaments (e.g. Queens)?

Queens despite the hype is not a major.
The order in mens game is Grand Slam, ATP Masters (1000) series nine events, then is the 500 series 11 events and then 250 series 40 events, Queens is a 250 event, A 500 event offers prize money starting at 755,000 euros, Queens has a fund of 750,000 euros.

[bluesdiamond]

Think Europsort still has Champions League T20, World Touring Cars and UEFA Women's Champions League and snooker not shown by the BBC. Not special but for £2.50 some reasonable quality.

[degsyhufc]

The only things I watch are the snooker and sometimes some athletics. I wouldn't bother paying seperate but it comes with my Sky package.

[DragonQ]

Originally Posted by degsyhufc

The only things I watch are the snooker and sometimes some athletics. I wouldn't bother paying seperate but it comes with my Sky package.

Well the £2.50pm difference is really between Sky Entertainment and Sky Entertainment Extra but since I'm not bothered about the extra kids, music and documentary channels, Eurosport is the only potential bonus with that package for me.

[jeffersbnl]

Originally Posted by DragonQ

OK so if I didn't get Eurosport but had Sky Sports, ESPN and the standard PSB channels, what coverage would I get of the Tennis Grand Slams? What about some other major tournaments (e.g. Queens)?

Are you thinking of subscribing via Top Up TV / BT Vision?

You'd be better subscribing via Sky or Virgin Media- check your PM.

[DragonQ]

No, I'm thinking of getting Sky (Entertainment, Sports, Movies, HD and ESPN). For an extra £2.50 I'd get Entertainment Extra and Sky 3D but I don't have a 3DTV and do not care about the extra music, kids, news and documentary channels - the only channel group I can see that might be of interest in Entertainment Extra is Eurosport, hence this thread.

[ShaunIOW]

A few years ago when Eurosport was Eurosport and not Eurosport UK as it is now, I'd have said yes its worth £2.50pm, but now I wouldn't pay 25p for it.

[TeeGee]

Eurosport Germany is covering the French Open and it is FTA. Not on a Sky box though.

[MeicY]

Eurosport also have all the non BBC snooker tournaments too.

[Gordie10]

Originally Posted by bluesdiamond

Think Europsort still has Champions League T20

Oh yeah - I watched Somerset's Champions League T20 games last year as well. So add that to the 24-hour Le Mans race, and that was my sum total with Eurosport. Still not worth £2.50 a month though - I could easily live without it. All but one of Somerset's games were not in HD either, something I probably take for granted with Sky Sports now.

Originally Posted by DragonQ

Well the £2.50pm difference is really between Sky Entertainment and Sky Entertainment Extra but since I'm not bothered about the extra kids, music and documentary channels, Eurosport is the only potential bonus with that package for me.

I, like most long-time Sky subscribers, am on a price freeze with Entertainment Extra at the moment, but should they ramp up the price in the next few months, I'll be reverting back to Entertainment instead - like you, I can live without most of the "Extra" channels, and that would include Eurosport in my case too.

[ShaunW]

They do pretty good coverage of the World Touring Car Championships in HD.

[LostFool]

I'm a big sports fan (apart from motorsport - I have no interest in people driving around in circles) but I cannot remember the last time I watched anything on Eurosport.

[suffolkblue]

Yes its changed so much since it became British eurosport its ok as a niche channel but I guess it depends on what sport you like really.

[speculator]

I consider British Eurosport as the over-spill public service sports broadcaster. The BBC is only interested in ratings-chasing and chooses to just show the high profile events. In tennis, the BBC restricts its coverage to Wimbledon, Queens and a bit of the Australian Open. GB competes in the Davis Cup and Fed Cup. I consider these are PSB events and should be broadcast. This means we need British Eurosport to fill the void. British Eurosport will show all events that sports rights permit - share rights when forced to (Australian & French Opens) with only exclusive deals stopping British Eurosport showing others (Wimbledon; Andy Murray live matches @ US Open).

From a niche sports channel, British Eurosport is growing and becoming the home of some sports - tennis, motorbikes (BSB, WSB, Motogp), snooker (19 tournaments/year with most in HD), cycling, wintersports. Being an all-round sports channel, British Eurosport is my most-watched channels and consider that 9p/day (£2.50/month) is value for money.

[cnbcwatcher]

I get Eurosport on UPC Ireland (I didn't have to pay any extra) and I don't watch it often but when I do I find it quite a good channel. It's great that they show more "minority" sports. I often watch the motorbikes on there and I watched the PTC Grand Final Snooker on there in the evenings (it was broadcast from my university so when I went home in the evenings I put it on to see it on TV ). It's worth it if you want to see sports the main channels don't show.

[gemma-the-husky]

extended live coverage of most tour de france stages.

2.50 isn't a lot, but everything adds up.

[Andy79]

Eurosport seem happy enough with their content!

http://www.rapidtvnews.com/index.php...f-of-2012.html

[cnbcwatcher]

Originally Posted by gemma-the-husky

extended live coverage of most tour de france stages.

2.50 isn't a lot, but everything adds up.

When is the Tour de France starting?