ZDF TV threatens to drop Tour de France broadcasts

[BGonaSTICK]

German public broadcaster ZDF has threatened to drop coverage of the Tour de France after a series of doping scandals marred the event and winner Floyd Landis subsequently tested positive.

The broadcaster fought off competition from Bertelsmann-controlled RTL to win a three-year contract to show the cycling event from 2005.

This year it devoted 30 hours of programming to the Tour which was beamed to an average audience of 1.8 million people.

"What we got is not what we paid for and if there is no change then we will cancel the contract," a ZDF spokesman said on Friday. "The tour isn't worth what it was in previous years."

The broadcaster's editor-in-chief was forthright about how doping scandals had changed the nature of the gruelling event.

"We signed a television contract for a sporting event and not for a pharmaceutical endurance test," Nikolaus Brender was quoted as saying.

On the eve of the tour, nine riders, among them pre-race favourites Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso, were forced to pull out of the event after being implicated in a doping investigation.

American Landis tested positive for the male sex hormone testosterone, the rider's Phonak team said on Thursday. If Landis's B sample confirms the result, the 30-year-old is certain to be stripped of his victory.