Why do the major networks overdramatize the Tour De France?

Question

I love watching OLN, and enjoy listening to their commentary, and think that they do a great job with their coverage of the Tour.

But, every weekend CBS, NBC, ABC, or some other network plays the Tour for an hour or so. They always try to turn the race into some kind of Poetic Melodrama. I can remember when Armstrong was racing. 10 minutes of the coverage would talk about the "majestic mountains" of France, the next 25 minutes would talk about Armstrong's Cancer, and the remainder of the time after commercials (usually a total of 8 minutes) would address the race itself. Why does their coverage have to be so cheesy? Does it really do the sport of professional cycling any justice?

Answer 1

The Tour de France comes during the DEAD of summer when nothing is on but some boring baseball games and a couple of golf tournaments.

So the networks puff it. They are too cheap to have continuous coverage of the actual course (too many cameramen! Too much equipment!) so they slog along with the canned pieces they have archived in the off-season along with commentary.

They're trying to keep the audience up so the commercial ads get to a large enough slice of the public.

Answer 2

The major networks overdramatize American football but do not give enough coverage to important events like the Tour De France and the Ididarod.

Answer 3

Didn't watch it this weekend(I've only been watching the OLN coverage). But it is the same issue with the olympics. There is usually more "up close and personal coverage" than actual event coverage.

Answer 4

Man, no kidding. I was watching the CBS stuff today; they had 5 minutes of actual bike racing in the whole 1-hour show. No wonder Americans don't care.