Live Figure Skating Disappears

[Bunny Hop]

I nearly forked out for that last year while trying to find a working stream for Worlds. Is that the one on the ISU website? And it shows the GPF and JGPF, and Euros, Worlds?

Yes, that's right. It's advertising the GPF for $US13.50 at the moment. I'm not sure about the JGPF (it's not something I really watch) but definitely got Euros and Worlds last year. I found it was better to watch the events as 'catch-up' the following day, rather than live, when everyone was trying to watch, but it worked pretty well.

[Michael O'C]

Its so crazy! In Australia, I cant even watch the grand prix at all from my ice network account. And I have no idea why. Its not shown on any tv here, so why is it blocked?? There are probably on 4 people in australia who care to watch anyway, so whats the point of the GEO Block?

I am in Australia too. There are many people who say they like to watch skating but there isn't any to watch apart from the Winter Olympics. Foxtel was good at some periods but hadn't shown anything (non-Olympic) for years. I am guessing it hasn't improved as I didn't get Foxtel reconnected after the floods here in Brisbane.

As for free TV, just forget it. I hoped that one of the new free digital channels would help, but no luck. I guess that they can't fit it in around all the football and cricket. The only skating I have seen on TV since Vancouver was the Jr Grand Prix held in Brisbane on the community channel 31. It was good to see but very limited and disjointed.

I love the way the ISU has been posting all the skates from the JGP on YouTube, I wish they would do it for every event. Perhaps in the future?

[query5]

For me, The U.S. did it to themselves by
1) not listening to the public
2) kept showing the same skaters for all the disson shows, img shows, tours in the pro world.1-
a) the U.S. public didn't mind seeing the OGM for 1 or 2 shows , but once you saw them on tv in one show the same for the next not to mention the (pro am competitions and the tour. We basically saw the ogm, same skaters skate the same thing over the course of the year-4-5 times. people got tired of it.
they wanted to see the lesser know skaters or ones that haven't saw in a while -example ones who finished 4-6 at nationals, or lower rank at worlds
we saw caryn kadvy i don't know how many times, & kristi, brian, scott , was always on one of the shows not to mention tara, etc.

sometimes when cut for commercial they cut the ones we wanted to see out.
b_in competition went from seeing the top12 in short to top 6 in short, and now in gp series only the top 3. (used to see all the U.S. skaters regardless of finish now only see them if they medal)

3-pushing only img skaters for the shows, competition and making sure the ogm won (majority of time even though messed up)
4)_not pushing the sport as a whole
by that i mean-no skaters that includes michelle kwan and all the ogm medalist is more important than the sport. the sport as a whole is more important than them.
5) people are drawn to certain medalist, skaters-like michelle, tara, brian, kristi, oskana, shiuzka, peggy-but that isn't what keeps them there. it is how the sport is being portrayed, appearance, how fairly they treat skaters in competition alike. in other words-if one falls and gets a low score in pcs they all should (-sorry but their is a techincal reason why they fall, ur, flutz-not hold up due whatever reason you like
going to scrutinize one have to scrutinize all
6) if state rules on internet apply them as rules "not as guidelines" -public sees them as rules not as guidelines
7) admit your cheating, unfair treatment of skaters, might go better=-dont lie and state well we change guidelines to "favor" skaters we want. keep rules same for everyone.

[query5]

by the way love new format

[NadineWhite]

It's not just the t.v. that's unfriendly to skating, but equally important are figure skating boards that do not welcome diverse figure skating fans, rather their own clique.

In this way, FSU is the only f.s. board that I know of that truly welcomes everybody from around the world. I just wish I had joined 10+ years ago when it first opened. I have deleted all the rest from my bookmarks. There's a reason why FSU has the greatest traffic of any figure skating board around.

Once again, if figure skating wants to grow and introduce new fans to this beautiful sport they must do so online as well, not just on t.v. Excluding f.s. fans just because they have a different viewpoint isn't going to help. Too much PC is not good, no matter what sport, et al.

Thanks for listening.

[gkelly]

But FSU is not "figure skating" -- it's started by and run by fans. It's great that fans -- and participants, and parents, and officials -- from a variety of backgrounds read and participate here and welcome newcomers. But there's nothing here coming officially from those who run the sport.

I agree that enthusiastic fans can attract more fans.

[skatesindreams]

More than ever the need to go the NFL route and create their own internet TV network. Show all the events - junior and senior - and let fans subscribe. The technology is there - they just need to use it.

Several years ago, there was an attempt to start a "Figure Skating Channel" in the US.
It ended, I believe, because of difficulties in getting broadcast rights, even for historic footage.
Perhaps, it's time to try again.

I would subscribe to such a cable channel.

[cbd1235]

Several years ago, there was an attempt to start a "Figure Skating Channel" in the US.
It ended, I believe, because of difficulties in getting broadcast rights, even for historic footage.
Perhaps, it's time to try again.

I would subscribe to such a cable channel.

We used to have almost that in Canada. It was called CBC Bold and it was a random channel which happenened to show EVERY skater in EVERY event live (from Canadian Nationals to all the grand prix's/worlds etc.). It was amazing for any Canadian skating fan, and lasted a few years, but now it's not the same

[canscot]

CBC seems to be showing all the GPs this year except for Skate Canada which was on CTV. But it was not always so.

[The Observer]

The coverage on TSN of Skate Canada this week has been lousy. I'm watching the Gala right now and they omitted to show Gilles & Poirier, even though they are a Canadian team and even though they finished 4th. Instead they chose to show Hubbell & Donahue who are American and who finished 5th. Why? They pulled this same stunt in the Ice Dance Free over the weekend. Why weren't G&P shown?

[manhn]

You may want to watch the telecast in its entirety before filing a complaint. Since 2010 Olympics, a lot of the galas have mixed the orders of the skaters, regardless of placement. Gold medalists are the exceptions-they always skate last.

And honestly, how has CTV's coverage of Skate Canada been lousy? Almost always live and they showed all the skaters (except for the first group of free dance, but it was shown on RDS).

[The Observer]

You may want to watch the telecast in its entirety before filing a complaint.

Are you saying G&P WERE shown on tonight's TSN broadcast? Because I haven't seen them yet.

[manhn]

Well, apparently TSN does suck. It was scheduled for 2 hours but it was only 1.5 hour telecast.

I still stand by my general approval of TSN's coverage of the whole event, minus a few exhibition programs.

[AndyWarhol]

I am in Australia too. There are many people who say they like to watch skating but there isn't any to watch apart from the Winter Olympics. Foxtel was good at some periods but hadn't shown anything (non-Olympic) for years. I am guessing it hasn't improved as I didn't get Foxtel reconnected after the floods here in Brisbane.

As for free TV, just forget it. I hoped that one of the new free digital channels would help, but no luck. I guess that they can't fit it in around all the football and cricket. The only skating I have seen on TV since Vancouver was the Jr Grand Prix held in Brisbane on the community channel 31. It was good to see but very limited and disjointed.

I love the way the ISU has been posting all the skates from the JGP on YouTube, I wish they would do it for every event. Perhaps in the future?

I remember back in 2002 and 2003 there was decent coverage on foxtel. It was in the middle of the night, and about a week late, but it was good (and it had Dick and Peggy commentating). Now its bare!

Saving up to go to events is the most fabulous idea! The cheapest would be NHK, i guess. I managed to go to TEB in 2010, but, thats not something I could do annually haha

until then its youtube!

[Judge Dred]

What coverage do fans have at the moment of the Grand Prix in the United States?

[PinkFeathers]

What coverage do fans have at the moment of the Grand Prix in the United States?

If your cable/satellite provider carries Universal Sports, you can pay an additional fee to watch the GP. There is also a taped 'highlights' program that runs for 2 hours on Saturday afternoons on NBC (For all events except Cup of China). However, Universal Sports did not actually show any of CoC live events last night/this morning due to 'technical difficulties'. IceNetwork will have on-demand coverage of each event 7 days after it happens. That's... it.

[leafygreens]

For me, The U.S. did it to themselves by
1) not listening to the public
2) kept showing the same skaters for all the disson shows, img shows, tours in the pro world.1-
a) the U.S. public didn't mind seeing the OGM for 1 or 2 shows , but once you saw them on tv in one show the same for the next not to mention the (pro am competitions and the tour. We basically saw the ogm, same skaters skate the same thing over the course of the year-4-5 times. people got tired of it.
they wanted to see the lesser know skaters or ones that haven't saw in a while -example ones who finished 4-6 at nationals, or lower rank at worlds
we saw caryn kadvy i don't know how many times, & kristi, brian, scott , was always on one of the shows not to mention tara, etc.

sometimes when cut for commercial they cut the ones we wanted to see out.
b_in competition went from seeing the top12 in short to top 6 in short, and now in gp series only the top 3. (used to see all the U.S. skaters regardless of finish now only see them if they medal)

3-pushing only img skaters for the shows, competition and making sure the ogm won (majority of time even though messed up)
4)_not pushing the sport as a whole
by that i mean-no skaters that includes michelle kwan and all the ogm medalist is more important than the sport. the sport as a whole is more important than them.
5) people are drawn to certain medalist, skaters-like michelle, tara, brian, kristi, oskana, shiuzka, peggy-but that isn't what keeps them there. it is how the sport is being portrayed, appearance, how fairly they treat skaters in competition alike. in other words-if one falls and gets a low score in pcs they all should (-sorry but their is a techincal reason why they fall, ur, flutz-not hold up due whatever reason you like
going to scrutinize one have to scrutinize all
6) if state rules on internet apply them as rules "not as guidelines" -public sees them as rules not as guidelines
7) admit your cheating, unfair treatment of skaters, might go better=-dont lie and state well we change guidelines to "favor" skaters we want. keep rules same for everyone.

Yes, I agree! The Disson shows are so boring. They have "different" ones, but it's like you are watching the same show over and over! The shows seem dated, like from decades ago. They have bands from the 70s, or 4th tier pop stars that no one has heard of. The same sponsors show after show, have "infomercials" within the show starring the skaters at home, cooking or showing off their jewelry. This becomes very tired when you are watching it every weekend during the winter. They got the jewelry for free, but you have to pay $100 per bead to commemorate a vacation (unrealistic?). There are already commercials during the commercials, why have them during the show also? Is skating so bad off that we have to put up with this?

I would love to see a fresh new skating show like Stars on Ice put on TV, with the latest champions or national competitors performing innovative programs, not the same skaters doing sleepy routines to Christmas music, shaking their booties while the older women in the crowd howl.

I almost feel guilty complaining about it, because any skating show is so rare that we should be grateful for anything that comes on! But is it too much to ask, for something "new"?

[Judge Dred]

Take a look at this - U S Figure Skating is having YouTube videos taken down -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_ayFqY2GVs

Crazy. A lot of Americans cant see the grand prix and now U S Figure Skating is preventing them from seeing it on YouTube as well. That will go a long way to eroding what's left of the fan base. I would have thought as well that U S Figure Skating has no right or jurisdiction to prevent the rest of the world watching on YouTube. At most, the only right they have is to geoblock American users from watching.

If I were American, I would complain to U S Figure Skating. They are responsible for the poor coverage in America and now they preventing fans from even viewing coverage on YouTube. That seems very cruel to what's left of the American fan base. The priority for U S Figure Skating should be sorting out the TV coverage problem, not preventing fans from watching