VERSUS and JumpTV's Cycling.TV to Offer Live, Daily, Exclusive Coverage of the 2008 Giro d'Italia

Published:

VERSUS, the home of professional cycling, and JumpTV's cycling channel Cycling.TV, have joined forces for the third year in a row to deliver live, minute-by-minute coverage of the 2008 Giro d'Italia. Beginning May 10 on Cycling.TV and May 11 on VERSUS, fans can tune in to watch the best cyclists in the world compete in one of sport's most elite competitions.

The Giro d'Italia will commence on VERSUS on Sunday, May 11, as part of the network's weekly Cyclysm Sundays show -- the network's weekly line-up of major cycling races dedicated to the sport's top races, athletes and teams -- hosted by Phil Liggett, Paul Sherwen and Bob Roll, the network's seasoned team of cycling experts.

"As the home of professional cycling in the U.S., VERSUS is committed to super-serving our viewers all year long," said Gavin Harvey, President of VERSUS. "Our exceptional weekly coverage of the Giro d'Italia combined with our partnership with Cycling.TV is just another way to ensure the cycling community receives unprecedented access to this elite event."

One of most highly anticipated cycling events of the year, the 2008 Giro d'Italia promises even more excitement for its fans this year with the inclusion of four time-trials -- 73.3 kilometers of the discipline -- ranging in technical difficulty, which will help ensure the winner is someone who performs across a variety of terrains. Through the partnership between VERSUS and Cycling.TV, cycling fans searching for the next great rider to capture the Maglia Rosa, Maglia Verde, Maglia Bianca and Maglia Ciclamino can tune in and watch live streaming coverage of this event in its entirety.

The full schedule for the Giro d'Italia on VERSUS follows (schedule subject to change):

May 11         4:00 - 6:00 p.m. ET (Same Day Delay)
May 18         4:00 - 6:00 p.m. ET (Same Day Delay)
May 25         4:00 - 6:00 p.m. ET (Same Day Delay)
June 1         3:00 - 5:00 p.m. ET (Same Day Delay)

Live coverage will begin on Cycling.TV on Saturday, May 10, at 9 a.m. ET. For a schedule of Cycling.TV's event coverage, visit http://cycling.tv/extras/packages/giro-ditalia.

To ensure the highest quality viewing experience for sports fans, live coverage will be streamed at a rate of up to 1200 kbps (kilobits per second) and replays and highlights at up to 1800 kbps -- some of the highest streaming data rates available on the web.

"Since Lance Armstrong's retirement two years ago, the field still remains open for the next big cycling phenom," said Nada Usina, President, JumpTV. "We're thrilled to be collaborating with VERSUS to bring the Giro d'Italia to cycling fans across North America. Cycling.TV is the only place to watch live online coverage of this hotly contested race."

Packages and subscription offerings for Giro d'Italia coverage on Cycling.TV include:

Giro d'Italia subscription package, USD $29.99: Includes access to all Giro d'Italia Monday through Saturday coverage, full post-event replays and highlights of each stage.

Gold North America subscription package, USD $99.99: Includes all of the Giro D'Italia subscription package offerings PLUS over 60 days of live pro road cycling from major tours to Spring Classics, top Italian races and access to Vuelta A Espana.

About VERSUS

VERSUS celebrates real competition in all its forms across all platforms (VERSUS.com, VERSUS on Demand and VERSUS HD). Now in more than 74 million homes, the network is the national cable home of the National Hockey League (NHL) and the Stanley Cup Playoffs as well as best-in-class events such as The Tour de France, Davis Cup Tennis, the Professional Bull Riders (PBR), World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) and Professional Boxing. The network also offers collegiate sports featuring nationally-ranked teams from top conferences such as the Pac-10, Big 12 and Mountain West. VERSUS features the best field sports programming on television and is a destination for sports fans, athletes and sportsmen to find exclusive, competitive events that audiences can't find elsewhere. VERSUS, a wholly owned company of Comcast Corporation is distributed via cable systems and satellite operators throughout the United States.

About JumpTV

JumpTV (www.jumptv.com) (TSX: JTV) (AIM: JTV) is a world leading broadcaster of sports and international television over the Internet. JumpTV streams over 10,000 live sports events per year in partnership with over 175 sports properties and also streams more than 250 television channels from 70+ countries around the world. JumpTV delivers its users full-screen sports, news and entertainment content on a real-time basis to all corners of the globe via ordinary Internet connections on their home computers and laptops.

Tags: Tags: Internet, connecticut

_ _

NEWS

WIRES

OTHER

TECHNOLOGY

NEWSPAPERS

VERSUS and JumpTV's Cycling.TV to Offer Live, Daily, Exclusive Coverage of the 2008 Giro d'Italia