Cycling streaming is set to change once again in the UK and Ireland, as TNT Sports will be absorbed by HBO Max from 26 March.
This is the latest change to how you can watch cycling races, after GCN+ closed at the end of 2023, Eurosport UK was axed last year and coverage moved to TNT Sports.
TNT Sports will remain on the same linear channels, but anyone looking to stream races such as the Tour de France will have to use HBO Max.
If you already have a TNT Sports subscription, it will automatically move over to HBO Max, which you can access via the HBO Max app or from HBOMax.com with your existing Discover+ login details.
The price for a TNT Sports subscription will remain at £30.99. Otherwise, the UK and Ireland’s cheapest HBO Max entertainment tier, Basic with Ads, starts at £4.99 per month and Standard with Ads is £5.99. The standard tier without ads is £9.99 and the premium tier is £14.99.
TNT Sports is available as a standalone plan or can be purchased alongside the Standard with Ads, Standard or Premium plans.
The move is part of Warner Bros. Discovery’s continued plan to consolidate its global streaming service. HBO Max launched in the USA in 2020 and is now available in 110 territories worldwide.
Warner Bros. Discovery says the platform’s launch in the UK and Ireland will be the first time you can stream “the exclusive collection of unmissable stories” from HBO, Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Studios, Max Originals and more.
For cycling fans, the consolidation of platforms will bring some clarity to what has been a confusing situation.
Following cycling coverage moving from GCN+ to Eurosport and then TNT Sports, it was revealed that ITV’s long-standing coverage of the Tour de France would end in 2025, after Warner Bros Discovery Sports Europe secured the Tour’s exclusive live broadcast rights in 2024.
The exclusive rights deal was described as “colossal” by TNT Sports, but prompted cycling fans to mourn the loss of free-to-air coverage.
BikeRadar’s Ashley Quinlan argued that having easy access to the world’s biggest cycling race helped the sport to grow in the UK.
Meanwhile, ITV cycling commentator Ned Boulting wrote on BikeRadar that coverage of the Tour de France had been in slow decline since its peak in 2012, and that viewership was “no longer big enough to merit its profitable inclusion in the schedules”.
Whether the Tour de France has found a place to be broadcast in the UK for the long term is another question.
In December it was announced that Netflix would acquire Warner Bros. Discovery’s film and streaming businesses, which was quickly followed by a hostile takeover bid by Paramount.
Warner Bros. Discovery has since urged shareholders to reject the offer from Paramount, but the bidding war has yet to be resolved.
It’s unclear what impact an acquisition by Netflix or Paramount would have for cycling streaming in the UK, but from next month the place to catch all the action will be HBO Max.
