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Report Reproduced from 'Cycling Weekly' Magazine pages 4-5 issue dated February 24 2001

No Tour On Channel 4

There will be no coverage of the Tour De France on Channel 4 this July.

After 15 years of acclaimed coverage, the world's greatest bike race has lost out to cricket.

David Kerr, Channel 4's editor of sport, said: "We have had to deal with an increasing amount of clashes with cricket, and it was difficult to fit the Tour into the schedule."

The decision to break off it's contract to broadcast the Tour has angered Yann Le Muenner, director of television at the Societe du Tour De France, who said: "Channel Four had a contract with the EBU [European Broadcast Union] to cover Le Tour until 2004. We learned they intended to stop showing Le Tour a few months ago.

Our position is that we want to force either the EBU [European Broadcast Union] or Channel 4 to find a new broadcaster. They are supposed to find a solution."

Le Muenner said the loss of coverage in Britain - which regularly attracted more than a million viewers daily - means not only money but also exposure. The Tour De France is broadcast through 75 channels to 170 countries worldwide.

Alan McLaughlin, Channel 4 corporate press officer, when asked if the channel was seeking a replacement broadcaster, as required, said: "That's what we are doing. We are talking to other terrestrial channels at the moment."

Cycling Weekly's Campaign - Do you want Channel 4 to reconsider it's decision? If so, please write to Cycling Weekly, 5th Floor, Focus House, Dingwall Avenue, Croydon, Surrey, CR9 2TA Great Britain, they will forward your views to Channel 4 - if enough people respond, the level of desire to see the Tour De France broadcast on mainstream television can be shown to Britain's Major stations.

Please head your letter with the following: "Dear Mr. David Kerr, Head of Sport, Channel 4" then include within the body of the letter the following: - "Please reconsider your decision to drop Channel 4's coverage of the Tour De France" -

please include your name and address - if possible you could print out the letter and get all the members of your families, Cycling Clubs, friends or work colleagues to sign this - the bigger the response the better the chance is of reversing this decision.