Skate Canada Productions - taking viewers to a whole new place

[victorskid]

Read this article for more on Skate Canada Productions and their plans for the remainder of the season, including Worlds in Montreal: https://rwbrodiewrites.substack.com/p/skate-canada-international-taking

Also, find out more about Joni MacPhail (aka the "weather girl")

 

[Alilou]

Read this article for more on Skate Canada Productions and their plans for the remainder of the season, including Worlds in Montreal: https://rwbrodiewrites.substack.com/p/skate-canada-international-taking

Also, find out more about Joni MacPhail (aka the "weather girl")

Even with a VPN I couldn't see the tiles for SCI on the ISU YouTube channel.
It appears that the videos are not archived on the SC dailymotion site. Fortunately they are on CBC but who knows how long for.

 

[victorskid]

Even with a VPN I couldn't see the tiles for SCI on the ISU YouTube channel.
It appears that the videos are not archived on the SC dailymotion site. Fortunately they are on CBC but who knows how long for.

I successfully went to "a foreign land" on my VPN to access the ISU videos - full streams for each discipline are there along with the top 3 in each discipline.

 

[Sylvia]

Excerpts from Rob Brodie's article:

“The television market has changed so significantly. You can’t find skating on a main network anywhere in our country,” said Ted Barton, executive producer of Skate Canada Productions, which is the creative force behind the presentation you’ll see this weekend (in Canada, it can be found on SkateCanada.ca, as well as cbcsports.ca and CBC Gem). “And our numbers were three times bigger than CBC’s numbers last year. Our streaming numbers were bigger than their television numbers. So we’ve transitioned the viewership of our sport.
“If you take a look at this, the ISU streams all their competitions. If you really are a skating fan, you can go on isu.org and watch Skate America and watch from France and watch from China. You don’t get that on TV but you get it on streaming. Everything at Skate Canada is on streaming. So if you know how to stream on your phone or your iPad or computer, skating exists there. You don’t need it on TV. And on TV, some days, it’s a day old and you’ve got a lot of commercials, or you’re only seeing the top six skaters. It doesn’t serve the people who are interested in the sport, but it does serve an older generation. It serves that generation quite nicely. It’s just different and it’s changing.”

The same production is being used for the Canadian championships in Calgary in January. Barton’s crew will also supply in-venue SkateBug Radio commentary for fans in attendance at the 2024 World Championships to be held in March at the Bell Centre in Montreal.
“We will have a small team of French and English (commentators) there. So if you’re in the audience or in the media, you’ll get a pre-event little show and you’ll have commentary during the performances,” he said. “After the skate, they’ll say ‘let’s take a look at the replay,’ and the video replays are on the video board (in the arena). Whatever they say will be referring to what you see in the building. So it’s like sitting at home talking with a bunch of people at the same time you’re watching the event live.”
Smaller productions are also planned for the Skate Canada Challenge events (senior/junior, Nov. 29-Dec. 3 in Winnipeg; pre-novice/novice, Feb. 1-4 in Oakville, Ontario), as well as the novice national championships, Feb. 21-25 in Waterloo, Ontario. Each will include live streaming of all the competitors.

ETA a relevant excerpt from page 17 of Skate Canada's 2022-2026 Strategic Plan document that's linked from this section of Skate Canada's website: https://skatecanada.ca/corporate/

Enhance Live Streaming and Production Initiatives
In the 2021-2022 season, Skate Canada embarked on the
Enhanced Live Streaming (“ELS”) initiative to enhance the
Skate Canada Brand, augment the marketing of the sport,
provide for greater visibility across the country, and to
increase awareness of figure skating athletes throughout the
athlete pathway. All Skate Canada sections indicated that
they required the necessary tools, resources and skills to
showcase the sport in their geographic regions. To that end,
the ELS initiative created Skate Canada’s Network Broadcast
Systems and provided training for individuals across the
country to assist in creating a high-quality end-product to be
lived streamed.
ELS’s ultimate goal is to create a series of productions
for National and Sectional events that include national
commercials and spots for local advertisers thus providing
revenue to both Skate Canada and each section. The
equipment acquired will also be used in the television quality
productions Skate Canada will create for marquee events. In
addition to generating revenue, this provides an opportunity
for important Skate Canada messages on strategic priorities
to be delivered to a broad audience.
The main production studio is located in Vancouver, British
Columbia. A national backdrop will be established in the
studio with the intention that a “show” will be created for
viewing at regular intervals. A secondary studio will also be
established in Montreal to ensure there are high-quality live
streamed events in French.

Going forward, the intention is that all Skate Canada events
will be live streamed and that sectional events, including the
Sectional Championships, will be produced to engage fans
across the country and internationally. Several well-known
retired elite athletes will act as hosts providing technical
analysis to the viewing audience. We will use ELS to tell the
story of figure skating in Canada, raise the profile of our rising
stars, and attract new audiences.

 

[Kateri]

I successfully went to "a foreign land" on my VPN to access the ISU videos - full streams for each discipline are there along with the top 3 in each discipline.

Me too, though the Pairs SP one is more finicky, due to the Beatles copyright. Hong Kong worked for me.

 

[Alilou]

I successfully went to "a foreign land" on my VPN to access the ISU videos - full streams for each discipline are there along with the top 3 in each discipline.

good to know. Perhaps I need to choose a different foreign land

 

[Aceon6]

good to know. Perhaps I need to choose a different foreign land

Tiny federation countries with good technical infrastructure usually work. I prefer Luxembourg and Brazil.

 

[kalamalka]

We've been using the Skatebugs in the arena. We had them when Skate Canada had them available for a few years before as well. It's particularly nice now that they have commentary for practices as well, especially since the ex-skater commentary teams have obviously done a lot of homework. KMT, in particular, frequently refers to teams' issues or success with elements in earlier events this season, and the technical information is helpful. I also like the strategy of KMT helping Kaitlyn to learn about pairs and vice versa.

Since we won't be able to go to either nationals or worlds in person, the enhanced streaming is welcome. OTOH, I do miss having some broadcast on TV, and I know quite a few people, especially older but also like Rosaleen who are unable to manage streaming independently.

 

[skategal]

Even with a VPN I couldn't see the tiles for SCI on the ISU YouTube channel.
It appears that the videos are not archived on the SC dailymotion site. Fortunately they are on CBC but who knows how long for.

Dailymotion

www.dailymotion.com

Here are the daily motion videos.

 

[Alilou]

Dailymotion

www.dailymotion.com

Here are the daily motion videos.

Wow, thank you! I need to learn better searching skills

 

[Alilou]

Tiny federation countries with good technical infrastructure usually work. I prefer Luxembourg and Brazil.

Thanks

 

[skategal]

Wow, thank you! I need to learn better searching skills

The funny part is that I usually can’t find them but got it on the first try this morning.