Tour de France, Versus Shun Live Web Video

Written by Steve Donohue

Friday, June 27. 2008 at 08:00 AM EDT Post a comment

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Despite the drug scandals that have plagued the Tour de France the last two years, sports network Versus expects to draw more viewers to its coverage of the race on TV and the Web.

But cycling fans won't find any live video from the Tour de France on Versus.com, BBC Sports's Website, or any other outlet covering the race on the Web. Versus plans to offer a large amount of on-demand highlights and features about the race, but no live footage.

"We, along with the Tour, decided that live video online is really not needed at this time," says Brad Friedrich, vice president of Internet strategy and development at Versus. "We don't feel it affects Web traffic."

The Tour de France runs from Saturday, July 5, through Sunday, July 27. Versus, owned by top cable operator Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK), plans to run 14 hours of live and taped coverage each day on TV.

Friedrich said most of the video clips Versus will run online this year will run from 30 seconds to one minute, and that some features will run as long as two minutes. Pre-roll spots running 15 seconds each will run with some of the videos, he added.

Versus uses the Adobe Flash Player for its online videos.

In addition to short-form video, Versus will run a fantasy game on the Fan Zone section of its site. The grand prize winner will receive a free trip to next year's race.

While no live video will run on Versus.com, the site will run live text updates detailing action from the race that are written by tour organizers. The site will also allow users to access a telemetry feed from select riders that track their heart rate, speed, and other stats.

Versus drew 24 million page views during its online coverage of the race last year, including 3.5 million video views. Friedrich said he expects traffic will increase this year.

A key challenge for Versus and other sports programmers covering the race is addressing the drug scandals that have plagued the sport following the retirement of seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong in 2005.

American cyclist Floyd Landis was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France crown after he was accused of taking performance-enhancing drugs, and dozens of racers were dropped from the 2007 race amid doping allegations leveled against individual riders and teams.

Versus president Gavin Harvey said he is confident that new drug-testing systems implemented by race organizers will eliminate doping scandals from this year's race. "We're going to get past all of that," Harvey said Thursday.

But Versus has made the drug scandals a core focus of its marketing campaign for the race, running a marketing campaign and Website with a "Take Back the Tour" slogan. The ad begins with the text, "Screw the dopers, politics, and critics. The false allegations and the fair-weather fans. They ripped the soul out of this race."

While Discovery Channel dropped its sponsorship of Armstrong's former team last year, Versus remains committed to the race. Earlier this month, Versus signed a contract extension with Tour de France owner Amaury Sport Organization that extends its U.S. rights to the race through 2013.