IceNetwork season renewal notice :-(

[Doggygirl]

Anyone who wants to email Universal Sports and tell them you will pay for online only access may email info@universalsports.com

I know they won't care but still...

Tell them if they ban people who are not cable tv subscribers from online access, you will contact your local cable providers and demand that they NOT include Universal Sports! or something equally futile as that...

Did that - great suggestion whether they care or not.

Yeah you're right about that. You may not be able to get something for nothing, but with IN this season, you can get nothing for something...

They are going to lose big with this, and its just going to end up cutting down our options even more.

Universal Sports deserves to burn in hell!

This isn't IN's fault. I'm guessing they were cringing as they sent out the renewal e-mail with the bad news. As other posters mentioned, they probabably can't stay in business with a lowered price. And they will probably lose subscribers due to this debacle. If they can't stay in business we will REALLY go backwards in coverage.

Yes. Universal Sports deserves to burn in hell! I am going to keep my IN subscription to have something to watch, and to support them in hopes they don't die over this.

[skatesindreams]

This isn't IN's fault. I'm guessing they were cringing as they sent out the renewal e-mail with the bad news. As other posters mentioned, they probabably can't stay in business with a lowered price. And they will probably lose subscribers due to this debacle. If they can't stay in business we will REALLY go backwards in coverage.

Yes. Universal Sports deserves to burn in hell! I am going to keep my IN subscription to have something to watch, and to support them in hopes they don't die over this.

I'm keeping my subscription for the sane reasons.

[rfisher]

I'm keeping mine because $40 is still way cheaper than it would cost me to go to SKAM or US nationals, and I can see some of the juniors at US nats that you wouldn't otherwise see. NBC will only show the top two senior groups.

[skatesindreams]

^^^
This, as well!

[PinkFeathers]

Definitely keeping IN sub, because they can't touch anyone else in Nationals coverage. I enjoy watching the build up from the tiny skaters to the senior groups! Now that the intial RAGE! is passed, and bounced over to US where it belongs, IN needs our support more than ever. I'm still a bit BLEH at the same price, but seeing as how it'd cost me 1000$ or more to attend either Nats or SKAM... yeah.

The rest will be watched on European streams.

[FSfan107]

If they're not showing the rest of the Grand Prix series, I have no reason to re-new. I sent them an e-mail notifying them of this. I hope this is sufficient.

[Theatregirl1122]

This isn't IN's fault. I'm guessing they were cringing as they sent out the renewal e-mail with the bad news. As other posters mentioned, they probabably can't stay in business with a lowered price. And they will probably lose subscribers due to this debacle. If they can't stay in business we will REALLY go backwards in coverage.

Yes. Universal Sports deserves to burn in hell! I am going to keep my IN subscription to have something to watch, and to support them in hopes they don't die over this.

It isn't IN's fault that they don't have the GP or that they can't operate with a price of less than $40. But it is their fault that, instead of doing some good PR, sending an email that made it clear that they'd be losing the GP live, thanking their loyal subscribers, highlighting the events that would still be available, and asking their subscribers to stick with them, they hid the fact that they didn't have the GP live or even on demand in a reasonable amount of time down in the middle of the email and phrased the whole email as if nothing were changing and there were no reason for loyal subscribers to be displeased.

That is where they lost a lot of credit with me.

[shsocu]

It isn't IN's fault that they don't have the GP or that they can't operate with a price of less than $40. But it is their fault that, instead of doing some good PR, sending an email that made it clear that they'd be losing the GP live, thanking their loyal subscribers, highlighting the events that would still be available, and asking their subscribers to stick with them, they hid the fact that they didn't have the GP live or even on demand in a reasonable amount of time down in the middle of the email and phrased the whole email as if nothing were changing and there were no reason for loyal subscribers to be displeased.

That is where they lost a lot of credit with me.

Totally agree! I had not received an email from them at all. I had to email them to cancel my subscription after reading this thread. They responded by saying that it had been cancelled and would expire on August 17. Guess I would have been charged without notice in 10 days.

[jlai]

I'm keeping my subscription for the sane reasons.

The small business types that charge for skating videos like Wheatdesigns charge me $20 to $30 for one event alone. That's how much I paid Wheatdesigns just for Broadmoor Open.

If I pay Russian WebTV, that will be $9.99 per month, and I have to renew once. That would be $20.

It's all about anchoring your price. If customers compare IN to other skating coverage (ie a different anchor price), they will find IN a good deal even without GPs. But IN didn't word the announcement well enough to prevent customers from comparing what they used to get to what they will get, so compared to what they paid last time, it sucks.

Anyway, a JGP event live + US nationals live plus some on-demand videos aint too shabby. Plus you can watch older videos at any time.

[dinakt]

I am very disappointed, but I'll pay $40 and renew the subscrption. I agree that icenetwork's announcement of the new season, glossing over the fact that for the first time in many years GP is not live is rotten. Internet is key for "niche sports", and I hope icenetwork comes back with better coverage soon. I'll pay $40 bucks for Lake Placid, Nationals and archived GP and will be watching whatever feed is necessary to see live competitions ( Georgia on my mind...). A giant leap backwards for US skating lovers, though.

[skfan]

The small business types that charge for skating videos like Wheatdesigns charge me $20 to $30 for one event alone. That's how much I paid Wheatdesigns just for Broadmoor Open.

If I pay Russian WebTV, that will be $9.99 per month, and I have to renew once. That would be $20.

It's all about anchoring your price. If customers compare IN to other skating coverage (ie a different anchor price), they will find IN a good deal even without GPs. But IN didn't word the announcement well enough to prevent customers from comparing what they used to get to what they will get, so compared to what they paid last time, it sucks.

Anyway, a JGP event live + US nationals live plus some on-demand videos aint too shabby. Plus you can watch older videos at any time.

but broadmoor open on wheat designs was LIVE and on demand within about 15 - 30 minutes. how long does it take IN to get regionals and sectionals up? it's not live, it's not even the same day, often not the same week.

i don't think the level of service is directly comparable. also, when i have a problem with wheat designs i get a prompt response.

since i'm more interested in the US JGP level skaters than i am in their senior GP skaters, i'll still subscribe.

[jlai]

yeah but broadmoor open on wheat designs was LIVE and on demand within about 15 - 30 minutes. how long does it take IN to get regionals and sectionals up? it's not live, it's not even the same day, IIRC.

i don't think it's directly comparable.

since i'm more interested in the US JGP level skaters than i am in their senior GP skaters, i'll still subscribe.

But IN does offer one jgp and a big part of nationals live. Plus the on demand stuff. Wheatdesign access only lasts three months and then you cannot access the event.That I think says a lot about how much companies need to charge for these niche sport coverage to be $$wise viable. This is no wimbledon after all with millions of viewers

Not having live gp sucks for fans and IN, but all in all, 40 a year for two live events plus extra aint shabby. That said the IN announcement could be worded much better. Just ne honest darnit

[skfan]

But IN does offer one jgp and a big part of nationals live. Plus the on demand stuff. Wheatdesign access only lasts three months and then you cannot access the event.That I think says a lot about how much companies need to charge for these niche sport coverage to be $$wise viable. This is no wimbledon after all with millions of viewers

Not having live gp sucks for fans and IN, but all in all, 40 a year for two live events plus extra aint shabby. That said the IN announcement could be worded much better. Just ne honest darnit

i think they were honest. it's in there somewhere, not hidden on some obscure link on their website.

i'm not enthralled with IN, but i don't think they were deliberately deceitful.

ETA: because the video quality from IN is often (not always) clearer than from wheat designs, i'm ok with waiting longer for a clearer picture. on 2nd thought, keep taking 2 weeks as long as the picture when i can finally view looks good on my computer

[sk8er1964]

I'm keeping IN, but I'm more interested in Adult Nationals than anything else. A whole bunch cheaper than what they charge for an on-site video, and I can go back several years.

[jlai]

From my business communication class, there are two schools of thought re delivering bad news.
One is to bury the bad news in the middle of the letter and go over it as quickly as possible, and follow it up with good news. But another school believes the readers won tbe fooled anyway, so you might as well be sincere and tell the bad news and explain the rationale behind it

Needless to say I believe in the second one

[Carolla5501]

And we wonder why skating is not being "broadcast" etc.... Support is "well I am going to take my toys and go home." SInce most of us don't have good options outside of IN the decision seems to be "If you won't do it the way I want I will just spend the season whining about missing it"

Somehow that makes no sense to me, but....

As for "blaming IN" REALLY? LOL! This is really a case of "Shoot the messenger" ISU signs the broadcast contracts...... THey gave NBC "exclusive" US rights for that initial broadcast/period. I doubt that was IN's first choice.

I wonder if IN had gotten the rights and sent out an email saying "we will have live broadcasts, but due to the increased cost it's going to be $150 a person" what the outcry would have been. It's a trade off..... cheap vs pricy. Real time broadcast rights cost more... Fact of life.

[AJ Skatefan]

I'm keeping Ice Network. I'm tired of Universal Sports playing the "call your cable provider" game. I was going to get Direct TV or Dish but decided to just downgrade my cable package and watch skating online and on NBC. I'm thinking it's better to give the tv providers as little money as possible. Of course, I'm waiting until after the Olympics to downgrade.....

[jlai]

From the other senior B thread, sounds like IN will have the US senior B event, presumably live.

[Doggygirl]

This is really a case of "Shoot the messenger" ISU signs the broadcast contracts...... THey gave NBC "exclusive" US rights for that initial broadcast/period. I doubt that was IN's first choice.

I was just thinking that maybe a better strategy would be for all of the US figure skating fans to write to the ISU asking them what they are thinking selling the rights to NBC and basically giving NBC the right to deny coverage to anyone who is not a Dish network subscriber. I would think it's in the ISUs best interest in the long term to have viewing open to as many fans as possible.

(not that Speedy gives a rusty hoot, but that's a whole nother story innit...)

[maureenfarone]

I'm sticking with IN. I'll see whatever I can on any available stream, but for full coverage I'll just wait the week. For reasons I won't go into here, I won't be going to Omaha for Nationals so IN will allow me to see all the competitors.