In looking at changes in the way sport has been televised over the years we should not fall into the trap of conveying common prejudices that permanently discredit the nature of the relations between sport, the media and business. This contribution analyzes the meeting of these three domains as an encounter structured by rationales of innovation and promotion. In this context the Tour de France, in its centenary year, is an excellent example, since it was created by journalists (Desgrange and Goddet) in order to promote a newspaper (L'Auto) with the support of the bicycle industry. The history of the Tour de France is thus closely linked to the history of the media. The Tour de France, by imposing constraints and creating needs, has generated changes in media production in response to public interest and to different kinds of economic interests. The article traces changes in the way the Tour has been covered by press and television, and the innovations it has forced in the media.