How to watch figure skating from US devices

[Aceon6]

Given all the kerfluffle about streaming, here are my tips

If you want to watch LIVE...

• Option 1 and probably the cheapest and easiest. NBC sports has purchased exclusive broadcast/streaming rights in the US. Most of the live events are stream only. To stream, you sign up for a Gold account at $60 per season. This gives you live coverage and replays of the GP, Euros, US Sectionals and Nationals and Worlds (plus others) on a phone, tablet, computer, smart TV or streaming device.
• Option 2. The ISU streams most events. To access the ISU stream, you must be accessing it from an IP address associated with a country where broadcast/streaming rights have not been sold. To do this, you need a VPN that allows you to select a country for IP masking. A good quality, secure VPN service will cost $5-10/month. (If you don’t understand the last two sentences, DON’T bother with a VPN.)
• Option 3. Use a non-geoblocked stream from another country. When people find good quality streams, they will usually post them in the appropriate PBP thread (accessible by paid FSU members). The links will be in the first few of pages of the PBP thread. Please read at least the first three pages before interrupting the PBP thread to ask for links. (Make sure your antivirus and malware detection software is up to date before trying. Most major broadcast sites are virus free, but you should always use caution.)

If you don’t mind waiting for BROADCAST...

• The initial airing is usually on The Olympic Channel starting the Monday after the event. Oly Chan is an upper tier sports channel offered by many cable companies. You may need to upgrade your cable subscription to get Oly Chan and it will probably cost at least $10/month to do so.
• Second and subsequent airings will usually be on Oly Chan or NBC’s other high tier sports network NBCSN.
• Finally, NBC will air a portion of major competitions on its regular broadcast channel. For example, the open broadcast of Skate America is a ONE HOUR recap of the ladies AND men’s free this Sunday at noon Eastern. If you enjoy pairs or dance, over the air broadcast is not your friend.

I hope people find this helpful.

 

[maureenfarone]

A couple of things I learned recently: If you are streaming NBC Gold Pass on your computer you must disable your adblocker (if you have one installed) and you must have an updated version of Adobe Flash because NBC Sports does need Adobe Flash.

 

[Aerobicidal]

• Option 3. Use a non-geoblocked stream from another country. When people find good quality streams, they will usually post them in the appropriate PBP thread (accessible by paid FSU members). The links will be in the first few of pages of the PBP thread. Please read at least the first three pages before interrupting the PBP thread to ask for links. (Make sure your antivirus and malware detection software is up to date before trying. Most major broadcast sites are virus free, but you should always use caution.

If I use Option 3, does that mean I am a criminal?

Or is it just likely that I am a criminal but I may not definitely be one.

Thank you for establishing the rule about what people are allowed to post in PBP threads, though.

 

[Aceon6]

Thank you for establishing the rule about what people are allowed to post in PBP threads, though.

Not a rule, just courtesy, similar to not clambering into your mid row seat while someone is skating.

 

[Stephori]

Surprised NBC and others are still requiring use of Adobe , as support for it is ending soon, and Mac users are advised to remove it for security reasons. For GP France, I had difficulty finding streams on So You Want to Watch FS that worked, which had not been the case in the past.

 

[Simone411]

Surprised NBC and others are still requiring use of Adobe , as support for it is ending soon, and Mac users are advised to remove it for security reasons. For GP France, I had difficulty finding streams on So You Want to Watch FS that worked, which had not been the case in the past.

There's several websites that still require Flash. Some of the games I play on Facebook require Flash. When I play one of those games, I have to allow Flash to be used with my Edge browser. A pop-up will appear letting me know I need Flash. I click on that, and I get a message to allow Flash for that game.

There are even some of the tools and gadgets on my website that require Flash if I'm using the Edge browser. Most of the time, I work on my site with IE 11 because it's much easier for me since I don't get a pop-up with it.