US sports broadcaster Universal Sports Network, a subsidiary of media company NBCUniversal, has signed a media partnership with Richmond 2015 for the US city’s staging of next year’s UCI Road World Championships cycling event.
The deal provides unprecedented coverage in the United States of the International Cycling Union’s (UCI) pinnacle event with more than 64 original hours across multiple networks including cable-television broadcaster Universal Sports, the NBC network, pay-television broadcaster NBC Sports Network and business news channel CNBC. Live digital streaming of all races will be available via a new Richmond 2015 mobile app for iOS and Android devices set to launch next year.
The agreement includes daily live event coverage on both Universal Sports and NBCSN with live coverage of the final day of racing on NBC and CNBC. Universal Sports will also produce daily pre- and post-race shows onsite, in addition to airing daily primetime repeat programming.
“Universal Sports’ agreement with Richmond 2015 is unprecedented, delivering more USA coverage of cycling’s annual championship than ever before,” Robert James, senior vice-president of content and communications at Universal Sports, said. “It’s been nearly 30 years since cycling’s World Championship was on domestic soil, and we plan to maximise that opportunity by providing in-depth coverage of the races, athletes and key storylines live to a national audience.”
Virginia’s capital city will host the UCI Road World Championships from September 19-27, 2015.