Peacock's Tour de France Gamble: Why "The Move" is Sparking Backlash

Pro cycling broadcasting is a complicated landscape; there are lots of different race organizers who have deals with different broadcasting companies throughout the season. But when it comes to the biggest show of the year, the Tour de France, here in the US, Peacock is the broadcaster who owns the rights. Peacock (NBC) has been a long-time champion of the TdF and has been broadcasting the race since 1999. This year, in addition to the normal broadcast of the Tour, Peacock is also streaming Lance Armstrong’s talk show The Move. The reactions from the cycling community seem generally negative in regards to this addition to the broadcast.

Viewers are not happy for one of two reasons. Firstly, Lance Armstrong was at the center of the biggest doping scandal cycling, or any sport, has faced, and lots of people have not forgiven Lance for this. They are upset that NBC decided to give him a platform to continue to make money on his name. Secondly, people who are fans of Lance's and are normal watchers of The Move are saying that Lance and the rest of the cast are more reserved in what they are saying now that they are on a network rather than YouTube, and are overall just more boring to watch than in years past.

I personally don't feel like I need to watch the show. Regardless of how you feel about the doping scandal, I think Lance is a bit of a tool generally, and besides, I believe there are more entertaining cycling commentary sources available anyway. The most bold move from Peacock is that not only did they choose to support Lance, who is the most controversial cycling personality ever, they start auto-playing his show immediately after the normal broadcast ends.

I know multiple people personally who still hold major grudges against Lance and are dissatisfied with Peacock because Lance’s show is being pushed so hard on them. I get that Peacock wants to get the most viewers for this show that they have already paid for, and a good way to do that is to start auto-playing while the viewers are still tuned into the broadcast. However, I am surprised that either NBC didn't do market research on how the community would perceive them broadcasting Lance’s show, or they did, and found out that it would still be worth it to them. In my, albeit singular, assessment of the situation, it seems like the backlash Peacock is facing is not worth it, especially because fans of the show are not happy either with the new format of the show. So, regardless, I’m personally going to continue to turn off Peacock once the stream switches over to The Move, and if I don't get to the remote in time, it’s okay because there are like 5 minutes of low-energy ad reads to start the show off anyway.