August 10/07 9:34 am - Canadian Company Buys Cycling.tv

Posted by Editor on 08/10/07
 

Canadian Company Buys Cycling.tv

Internet cycling broadcaster Cycling.tv is to be purchased by Canadian narrowcaster JumpTV for $4.95 Million (U.S.). Cycling.tv airs free and paid subscription webcasts of major cycling events, such as the Tour de France (daily wrap up), Vuelta, the Spring Classics and world championships, as well as providing coverage for the UCI online (UCI.tv). JumpTV streams live television over the internet and currently offers over 250 channels from more than 70 countries. In July, JumpTV reached an agreement to purchase a U.S.-based provider of NCAA sports coverage Broadband Network (owned by XOS) for $60.25 million U.S.

Cycling.tv generated $466,616 (U.S.) in revenue for the 5 months ending May 31st and had an operating loss of $339,844 (U.S.). The company currently has 18,000 paid subscribers and reports 130,000 unique visits per month.

In a statement, JumpTV CEO Scott Paterson said "This acquisition is in line with our pursuit of exclusive, hard-to-find and high-affinity Internet video content."

"We are confident that, as part of JumpTV, the world's top cycling races will be able to afford their worldwide fans the best in an online experience."

The Cycling TV website will continue in its present format, and Cycling.tv CEO Simon Brydon will continue in his position. The company will become part of the JumpTVSports division, along with the above mentioned acquisition - Broadband Network.