Cycling on NBC

Coors Classic coverage

In 1985, NBC broadcast the Coors International Bicycle Classic^[8] as part of its anthology program Sportsworld.^[9] Greg Lewis anchored NBC's coverage alongside Connie Carpenter and Alexi Grewal.^[10]

Tour de Trump coverage

From 1989 to 1990, NBC broadcast^[11] the Tour de Trump,^[12] which was a North American cycling stage race initially sponsored by businessman (and later U.S. President) Donald Trump.

For the very first edition in 1989, Dick Enberg^[13] anchored^[14] the coverage alongside Gary Gerould and analyst Clif Halsey.^[15] Greg Lewis meanwhile, interviewed cyclists after the final stage. NBC would cover at least two weeks worth of action for two hours^[16] each on Sunday afternoons^[17] while ESPN otherwise, provided the bulk of the coverage.

The following year, NBC announced that it would commit to airing at least six hours^[18] worth of the Tour de Trump race. This time, John Tesh anchored NBC's coverage alongside Phil Liggett.

Incidentally, the idea for the race was conceived by John Tesh, who had covered the 1987 Tour de France for CBS and on his return suggested holding a race in the United States to the basketball commentator and entrepreneur Billy Packer. Packer originally planned to call the race the Tour de Jersey. He approached representatives of casinos in Atlantic City for sponsorship, and Donald Trump offered to be the race's primary sponsor and Packer's business partner in the venture. It was Packer who suggested the Tour de Trump name.

Tour de France coverage

In 1999, NBCSN,^[19] then known as Outdoor Life Network (or OLN) acquired the U.S. broadcast rights to the Tour de France for US$3 million. Coverage of the Tour on OLN brought substantially greater viewership to the then fledgling channel, due in part to the then-growing popularity of American rider Lance Armstrong. In 2004, where Armstrong would aim for a record-breaking sixth straight Tour de France title, OLN would devote over 344 hours in July to coverage of the Tour, along with documentaries and other original programming surrounding the event – which was promoted through a US$20 million advertising campaign.^[20]

Overall, while its coverage of the Tour de France helped OLN expand its carriage to over 60 million homes, rumors surrounding Armstrong's possible retirement from racing led to concerns over OLN's emphasis on him (to the point that some critics referred to OLN as standing for "Only Lance Network"),^[21] with critics questioning whether the network could sustain itself without the viewership that Lance Armstrong's presence had brought to its coverage.^[22]

Carriage of the Tour de France continued through OLN's retooling as a mainstream sports channel and rebranding as Versus.^[23] In 2011, Versus owner Comcast acquired a majority stake in NBC Universal, and merged its sports cable networks with that company's NBC Sports division.^[24][25][26] NBC Sports would continue to carry the Tour on Versus, later rebranded as the NBC Sports Network (NBCSN).^[27] The 2015 Tour de France saw its highest ratings on NBCSN since 2010, with average viewership increased to 365,000, and stage 8 having nearly a million viewers on NBC.^[28]

Beginning in 2016, NBC began to stream additional coverage via a subscription service, including replays, the commercial-free world feed, and other second screen content. This app expanded into the "Cycling Pass" service on NBC Sports Gold in 2017, which would also include coverage of the UCI Road World Championships, Colorado Classic, and Volta a Catalunya.^[29][30][31]

After the discontinuation of OLN's successor NBCSN at the end of 2021, linear television coverage of the Tour de France moved to other NBCUniversal cable networks such as USA Network and CNBC. NBCUniversal's streaming service Peacock would also carry all stages .^[32] On February 15, 2023, NBC Sports announced that it had renewed its media rights to broadcast the Tour de France through 2029. Beginning in 2024, cable simulcasts will be discontinued, with all stages becoming exclusive to Peacock, and occasional stages simulcast by NBC.^[32]

Summer Olympics