Steve Harmison runs in to bowl to Justin Langer at the Oval in August 2005. The Australian opener attempts to sway out of the way, gets hit on the shoulder, and the ball runs away to the boundary for four leg byes. The gloomy clouds call an end to the day's play, and with it, an end to one of the greatest Test series of all time.
That wasn’t just the last ball of that Ashes series, though, it was the last time that Test cricket was on free-to-air television in the UK, aside from a brief return in 2021. It means that for almost 20 years, a cricket fan has had to pay for Sky Sports, and occasionally BT/TNT Sports to watch.
It will not be a surprise that viewing figures have suffered as a result. The historic men’s Ashes series of 2005 peaked at 8.4 million viewers, while almost 20 years of Test cricket on Sky peaked at 2.1 million in 2023, during last summer’s men’s Ashes. However, those are just the headline figures; in reality, many audiences do not top a million anymore. Simply, not as many people have access to paid television. Sky Sports begins from at least £22 a month.
This is a warning for cycling. Last Friday, it was announced that the Tour de France would not be shown on free-to-air television from 2025, with ITV losing its coverage as a result. It will be “exclusive” on Eurosport/Discovery+. Cycling is not cricket, it’s a smaller, more niche sport, and this decision hints that it will become even more of a non-entity in the UK.
As a committed cycling fan, this might not affect you much. You probably already have access to Eurosport, or made the trudge across to Discovery+ after the demise of GCN+. You watch without adverts, year-round, and it isn’t all about the Tour de France.
However, this is not about the committed cycling fan. The Tour de France is a behemoth in the cycling year, one which towers over everything else on the calendar. The loss of free TV coverage could remove millions of viewers in one swoop.
Whilst an inconvenience for fans, the end of free TV coverage could spell disaster for the future of our sport. If fewer people are watching cycling on TV in the UK, fewer people are going to be inspired to ride (or even race) bikes. Sure, the next British Tour de France winner might come from a house with Eurosport, but the chances are smaller, the opportunities to discover cycling smaller.
We often talk about the struggling domestic racing scene in the UK, but if fewer people are watching the top tier on TV too, then the sport is being squeezed from both ends.
There is no one directly at fault here, beyond capitalism and a desire by the Tour de France’s organisers or the European Broadcasting Union to make the most money from the TV rights. Perhaps ITV just couldn’t afford it. But removing the Tour from free-to-air television is the snake eating its own tail, severely limiting the chances of a future audience, a British public that wants to pay to watch the Tour de France. There might be no gateway drug, no first taste anymore.
It’s understood that Warner Bros. Discovery is exploring options for some kind of free highlights package from 2026 onwards, but this is not the same as a live race, and it might not even be on free-to-air television. How are people going to find the sport that we all love and are passionate about? Will the casual fan now only see cycling on TV during the Olympics and occasional World Championships? This would be catastrophic for cycling participation numbers.
There was talk of the 2027 Tour de France having its Grand Départ in Britain, but that might now be a home Grand Départ that no one watches, unless at the roadside.
Test cricket still continues, I still love it, but I’m a passionate fan willing to listen on the radio rather than watch live. The newer convert is less likely to persevere, meaning one of the greatest sports risks becoming a sideshow. Cycling is even more of a niche than cricket, and cannot afford to lose any more of its relevance.
2025 will be the last year for a while that we see the Tour de France on free-to-air. Let’s celebrate it one last time, and then, prepare to fight for its return.
