IceNetwork season renewal notice :-(

[AJ Skatefan]

It's not the same having to wait 7 days to watch the GP when we were used to watching it live.

I don't really mind. I don't get up in the middle of the night to watch live skating from China.

[skfan]

thank you for the interesting information. so universal sports has the rights for this year only (pending further negotiations)? no wonder their tactics reek of desperation.

[RD]

I don't really mind. I don't get up in the middle of the night to watch live skating from China.

Same here, but I often watched the next day. Can't even do that now...it's a whole week.

[PinkFeathers]

I really can't wait for this to backfire into a steaming pile of bad decisions for US. They take NBCfail to a whole new level of beyond fail. SHE'S GONE FROM SUCK TO BLOW /spaceballs

[skatesindreams]

I would rather have this arrangement, than less/no coverage; and hope that an improved solution can be found for the years to come.
I have been a subscriber since IN began.
I will continue to support them; and encourage investigating all available options.

[FSfan107]

thank you for the interesting information. so universal sports has the rights for this year only (pending further negotiations)? no wonder their tactics reek of desperation.

Exactly. Talk about giving skating fans the finger.

I will gladly subscribe again to IN next year if they offer live streaming of all of the senior GP events, but I simply cannot cough up the $39.95 this year without full live coverage of these events. I know they have their reasons for keeping this price as Pete talked about, but I can't justify paying this amount on my current budget.

[SpeedySucks]

I thought Universal Sports has the rights to ISU competitions through the 2013-14 season? I seem to remember them signing a 5-year deal back in the fall of 2009.

Whatever agreement is reached in the future, I hope it does not result in the loss of TV coverage of ISU events on NBC and Universal Sports. IceNetwork is great for diehard skating fans, but the TV coverage on US and especially NBC is important for wider viewership. It would be particularly unfortunate if we lose TV coverage of the Grand Prix in the Olympic season.

[PinkFeathers]

Does anyone know if Canadian TV will be showing the live broadcasts online?

[MissIzzy]

I see there is an assumption the ISU will turn down a deal that gets them money just because it will keep people from actually seeing skating

[Grannyfan]

Hmmmm...I wondered if I'd misread the email. I have universal sports, but was going to drop the package since I seldom watch the TV channel except for skating. I guess I'll keep it now. $40 is still way cheaper than a ticket to any of the events being shown, or travel. Or food. Or other expenses. Life isn't free.

I have DirecTV, and I subscribed to Universal Sports during the skating season. I think it cost me 12.95 a month. I'll probably do it again as long as they'll let me cancel after Worlds.

[Lara]

Came across this article just now. Looks like it's not just Olympic sports fans getting screwed with these exclusive deals. Still sucks regardless...

http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/la-l...2398--sow.html

[DORISPULASKI]

Unhappiness, both with IN for high cost for less service, and with NBC/US sports as well, is also being discussed at GoldenSkate in this thread.

http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/sho...g-Fans-Support

Needless to say, I think somebody needs to think about promoting the sport rather than trying to squeeze the last few pennies out of its downward tailspin from its previous status as the premier Winter Olympics event.

[jlai]

I subscribed to TVTeka for the GPs this season. I must say compared to TVTeka, which froze one or twice per performance, and skipped a few seconds on a regular basis, IN feed for GP last season was sublime.

Despite the regular freezes and $12 per month, I saw few complaints about TVTeka thus far, compared to what fans complained about Icenetwork last season (which was $40 a whole year plus archives).

I hope IN will have gps next season. I couldn't enjoy the men's lp today; I was pretty tired of the crappy feed by then.

[Carolla5501]

I see there is an assumption the ISU will turn down a deal that gets them money just because it will keep people from actually seeing skating

LOL! I think folks on here actually think both the ISU and USFS care about the fans. REALLY? Their actions have not ever really shown that to me.

That said I have been very happy with IN this year and will continue to support it. I was AMAZED that during "free Saturday" (when I know all the "I won't PAY" folks were watching too) I had no problem with the video stream! Heck last week I even got a great stream in a hotel (and trust met that's amazing, but it's not generally IN's fault.. hotels have "free" wifi. THat doesn't mean "we paid for a lot of bandwidth" LOL!)

I think the pulling of support for IN by the "if I can't see it live I won't pay" may eventually lead to "I can't see it at all" or paying more. (I am not sure how it's a better deal to pay $12 a month for coverage then $40 a year for more events, plus unlike a lot of you I have a life that does not allow me to 'drop everything' to watch this live all the time. I generally watch most of this stuff on delay anyway)