For fans of cycling, today brings some bad news. Warner Bros. Discovery announced that it will shut down GCN+ next month. The streaming service offered subscribers a massive amount of exclusive live cycling events.
In different parts of the world, the service will merge into Discovery+. But that won’t happen in the U.S.
GCN+ first launched back in 2021 as a single source for all of the best cycling events. Now though, Warner Bros. Discovery has decided to pull the plug on the channel with the final day being December 19, 2023.
In a message to subscribers, Warner Bros Discovery said, “This follows Warner Bros. Discovery’s broader strategy to consolidate its streaming services to provide customers with all the sports they love in one place, alongside the widest range of entertainment content, seeking to provide extended value to subscribers and everyone in their household.”
While international customers will be able to sign up for Discovery+, there’s little recourse for domestic fans. For U.S. customers, the FAQ about where you can still catch cycling events just says “Information regarding availability of live cycling events is not available at this time.”
GCN will continue as a free service on YouTube and other places but the paid service with more live events is sadly going away.
Here is the full message posted about the service ending:
In 2021, we launched GCN+. It was a brand-new service that would showcase our own next-level cycling films, a weekly show, and all of the live racing that we had been broadcasting since 2020 on RacePass. But it is with great sadness that we today announce the closure of GCN+ and the GCN App as of December 19, 2023.
This decision comes from our parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) and is driven by its global strategy to consolidate its streaming services, and to offer content in fewer places, making it easier for customers to access and discover more content. In Europe, GCN+ subscribers will now have the option to subscribe to access Discovery+, Eurosport or Eurosport Extra, where you can continue to watch live cycling. In markets outside of Europe, WBD is reviewing how content is delivered to its fans.
Pro-rata refunds will be given to subscribers from December 19 onwards.
Given the news, we really want to express our thanks, to you, and the hundreds of thousands of cycling fans who have supported us and subscribed to GCN+.
We also want to say thank you to the talented and hard-working people at GCN+ and on the GCN App who have poured their hearts and souls into creating such amazing content. Just like you, we’re also disappointed that we will no longer be able to bring you these services.
We’re really proud of everything we have achieved with GCN+ and the GCN App over the last four years, from all of the live race coverage to the 200+ films that we made.
We also want to add, for the sake of all the people who have worked so hard on GCN+ and the GCN App, that the reason for its closure is not because the two platforms didn’t work or were underperforming. The reality is that the media industry landscape has changed, and this is why WBD’s streaming services are being consolidated to offer content in one place.
No doubt there are lots of you out there who have questions that we haven’t answered in this news story. We have tried to answer as many as we can here. Please also leave any in the comments section below and we will do our very best to answer them for you.