SBS recognised for its cycling contribution

Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) received the award for "Best Contribution to the Coverage of Sport" at the Australian Sports Commission 2008 Media Awards in Sydney last night.

"This award is an important recognition of our credentials in sports media, as voted by our peers, and I am very proud that SBS has been acknowledged for its outstanding contribution to cycling in Australia," said SBS Head of Sport, Ken Shipp.

"Cycling is a truly global sport and SBS will expand its commitment to the sport across our multiple platforms in 2009. The coverage is only going to get better on SBS."

Excluding the Beijing Olympic Games, SBS broadcast almost 140 hours of live, highlights and documentary cycling programming across road, track, mountain and BMX disciplines locally and internationally in 2008.

Highlights for the year included live coverage of the Tour de France, Paris-Roubaix and men's and women's road cycling events at the Beijing Olympic Game as well as daily highlights of La Vuelta a España, Giro d'Italia, Tour Down Under and the National Road Team Series in Australia. The network also produced two cycling documentaries – "Cadel Evans - On Tour" and "Conquering Roubaix" – and hosted a comprehensive Tour de France website featuring all the latest news, live updates, stage and overall standings, video highlights, stage and rider profiles, photo galleries, expert blogs and archival material.

In December 2008, SBS will strengthen its coverage of cycling when it launches the dedicated online cycling portal Cycling Central.