The Tour de France will not be broadcast on free-to-air television in Britain from 2026 after Warner Bros Discovery and Eurosport secured the exclusive broadcast rights as part of a wider deal that runs until 2030.
The new deal between the race owners and broadcasters means ITV will broadcast the Tour de France in Britain for a final time in 2025 unless they opt to end their current deal early.
The deal also ends the free-to-air broadcast of highlights of other ASO-owned races, and the much-loved race commentary by Ned Boulting, David Millar, Daniel Friebe, Gary Imlach and other well-known ITV journalists.
Britain is hoping to host the Grand Depart of the 2027 Tour de France but it is unclear how a reduction in visibility for professional cycling in Britain fits with a multi-million pound bid. The news comes less than a year after the closure of the popular GCN+ streaming app, which forced many cycling fans to pay higher fees to see their favourite races.
A similar loss of free-to-air broadcast for the Giro d'Italia led to a significant fall in viewing numbers, which impacted the visibility of the races and so of race and team sponsors.
Ironically, the new deal is part of a wider agreement between Tour de France organiser ASO and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) that helps support free-to-air television across Europe.
The deal means that all or part of ASO's portfolio of men's and women's races will be broadcast free-to-air by EBU Members in Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Switzerland.
Eurosport/Warner Bros Discovery have struck a sub-license deal with the EBU, to broadcast the Tour de France, Vuelta a España and the 16 other ASO races in the package across Europe and an exclusive deal for the UK from 2026.
Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) Sports Europe said the move "cements its position as the Home of Cycling and guarantees broad access for millions of viewers across Europe."
The package of rights in Europe also includes many of the men’s and women’s editions of Paris-Roubaix, Liège–Bastogne–Liège and La Flèche Wallonne as well as Paris-Nice, Critérium du Dauphiné and the Volta a Catalunya. From 2026, this package of rights will be exclusive in the UK.
Eurosport first broadcast the Tour de France and many of the season's biggest races in 1991 and now has a deal in place until at least 2030.
The Tour was first shown in Britain by Channel 4 in the 1980s before moving to ITV in 2001. The free-to-air viewing helped the growth of professional cycling in Britain, especially when the Tour de France started in Britain and during the success of Team Sky.
"For many years, we have been trusted to act as the custodian for cycling and have worked tirelessly to maximise the opportunities fans have to engage with their favourite sport," Trojan Paillot, SVP, Sports Rights Acquisitions and Syndication at WBD Sports Europe, said.
"Our commitment to cycling has seen us invest in the most comprehensive live rights portfolio, which includes every men's and women's Grand Tour race, and we're delighted to now extend our relationship with our partners at ASO and EBU to take us into a fifth decade of covering the world's greatest races including the Tour de France.”
