WBD’s U.S. broadcast plans leave few clues for Canadian World Cup fans

After uncerimoniously axing GCN+, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) finally offered some clues as to how North American fans will be able to watch World Cup mountain biking in 2024. It’s mixed news for U.S. viewers and, well, no news for Canadians.

WBD is bringing World Cup mountain biking to the Max streaming platform, but via the B/R Sports add-on. The package will also include Giro d’Italia, road spring Classics, UCI Track Champions League, cyclocross and other road World Tour races as well as a suite of major North American pro sports.

That is sort of good news if you’re in the U.S. It maybe an add-on on top of a streaming service fee, but at least there’s a way to watch mountain biking in 2024.

If that doesn’t sound like good news, here’s the bad news. The Max announcement doesn’t include any news about where the World Cup will be broadcast in Canada in 2024. In fact, the reminder e-mail sent out that GCN+ would cease to exist on Decmeber 19 provided no further news about where fans could watch any form of cycling going forward. Bad news if your a fan of mountain biking. Worse if your a ‘cross fan, as that coverage could disappear mid-season.

World Cup racing will surely eventually find a broadcasting home in Canada. Where that will be remains to be seen. It is, unfortunately, looking like Canada is an afterthought market for an already-niche sport for a company dealing with its own, very public financial difficulties.