U.S. Figure Skating & NBC Sports Group Partner on Media Rights Agreement through 2026

[MacMadame]

Am I the only one who thinks it ironic that people are bemoaning the loss if Ice Network?

No.

 

[aftershocks]

Was it ever promised that all the archival content from IceNetwork would transition to NBC Sports Gold?

All of the major competitions we had under our IN contract for last season were to be 'ported over,' but they made inept mistakes in doing so. Not that a lot of people were overly concerned about it. They supposedly corrected some of the mistakes in a sloppy way. They now have on NBCgold fs website, duplicates of some portions of the initial missing events, as well as misidentified portions of events

Some of the archival content from earlier seasons is supposed to be made available on U.S. figure skating fanzone, I believe for a price.

ETA:
I believe most figure skating fans desired IN to get their act together and provide up-to-date, glitch-free streaming and better customer service, not a total disappearing act. Disappointment and disgust directed toward IN did not across-the-board extend to their journalistic coverage.

 

[misskarne]

It's not so much that I'm bemoaning the demise of IceNotwork, as I'm decrying the incredible stupidity of the USFS if the US Classic will be both pay and geoblocked. It's not just US skaters at the Classic, there's plenty of skaters from other countries whose fans - whose relatives - aren't going to be able to watch them skate. The Challenger Series is a worldwide event. Closing one off almost entirely is a really dumb move.

 

[care bear]

My billing adress is Germany, so I could buy it, but I would be able to watch only US Nationals 2019. I used VPN ZenMate for Icenetwork last year, but do not know if it will work this season.
I miss Icenetwork, this is not a joke.

 

[insideedgeua]

Well I’ve now worked out the VPN thing and so NBC will now let me buy a pass. It remains to be seen whether it will work or not though.

 

[Lara]

Fingers crossed but VPNs should work on desktop, I can watch on-demand content that way and imagine it'll be same for the live streams.

But they seem to have geoblocked everything including US Nats from last season, and I can't get any skating to show up on the iOS app. Really hope they get that fixed for the US Nats qualifying competitions which should *not* be geoblocked.

 

[Simone411]

I just received a newsletter from NBC Sports. According to the schedule that was listed, NBC Sports Gold will be covering the majority of the figure skating including this Grand Prix season.

NBC Sports Gold - Figure Skating.

Nothing happened with my problem of my account being completely deleted with IceNetwork. Therefore, there's no discount for me. I would have to pay $59.99 to watch with NBC Sports Gold.

Since I'm on a budget, I guess I'll wait and keep my fingers crossed that some of the skating will be shown on the Olympic Channel and NBC. The only problem is that it won't be live, and last year, a lot of us had it made with all the skating being on NBC, NBC Sports Channel and the Olympic Channel. That's okay. I'll keep up with what others post, and also hopefully some of the skating will be on YouTube afterwards so I can see all the skater's programs.

 

[Frau Muller]

Thanks. I, too, am fine with watching on TV, on a combination of the three NBC-related channels. Olympic Channel was great last year for the Sr GP, usually same-day and at hours after work. Perfect.

 

[Simone411]

Thanks. I, too, am fine with watching on TV, on a combination of the three NBC-related channels. Olympic Channel was great last year for the Sr GP, usually same-day and at hours after work. Perfect.

Absolutely, Frau Muller. That's the plan, and it's fine by me.

 

[TanithandBenFan]

The Olympic Channel stuff last year was almost all live IIRC.

Excited to test the new NBC Sports Gold in two hours! Being able to watch on my TV with a few clicks of my remote will be fabulous.

 

[PRlady]

The Olympic Channel stuff last year was almost all live IIRC.

Excited to test the new NBC Sports Gold in two hours! Being able to watch on my TV with a few clicks of my remote will be fabulous.

I have a new smart TV and don't know how to get online broadcasts onto it....my husband does and he's overseas. Oh well, will watch on computer til he gets back. (Yeah, I know.)

I'll say that if the quality of the broadcast is better than IN, I won't complain about the $60.

 

[danafan]

Their customer service is IMO worse than icenetwork. It took them two months to tell me that archived broadcasts, even the ones not geoblocked, are not available to international users "yet". I'm hoping to get an answer about the US International Classic which was not geoblocked by icenetwork the last few years and there are no TV contracts for the event with other countries as far as I know so I should be able to watch it. We'll see...

 

[SkateSand]

I've been very happy with the live streaming I saw today of the US Classic. I had no problems logging in and the feed was great.

 

[slicekw]

I have a new smart TV and don't know how to get online broadcasts onto it....my husband does and he's overseas. Oh well, will watch on computer til he gets back. (Yeah, I know.)

I'll say that if the quality of the broadcast is better than IN, I won't complain about the $60.

@PRlady try using the browser on your smart tv, just like the laptop. It ought to work.

 

[Skittl1321]

My app worked great last night, but today it won't load any of the replays. Just spins and spins and spins. The website too

 

[Sylvia]

I've started a separate thread in the TV Alerts forum: NBC Sports Gold figure skating pass - feedback, troubleshooting, pros/cons, etc.

 

[PRlady]

@PRlady try using the browser on your smart tv, just like the laptop. It ought to work.

If you come over and show me, I’ll cook you dinner.

 

[slicekw]

If you come over and show me, I’ll cook you dinner.

That's me, backup tech support person.
Unfortunately, in Texas. But I'll come do tech support the next time I'm in your neck of the woods!

 

[Moto Guzzi]

I finally got a discount code after weeks of emailing and messaging. However, NBC Sports website is the most user-unfriendly website. It froze for 15 minutes when I tried to purchase a pass. Once I was finally able to get to the screen to enter my credit card info and did so, it froze again. I don't know whether or not my purchase actually went through.

I hope this isn't an indication of what I'll go through should I actually try to watch a competition.

 

[Sylvia]

I finally got a discount code after weeks of emailing and messaging.

You should have done what I did. I subscribed at the full price, sent a message to Support asking about the $10 discount I was supposed to have from being an IN subscriber and got a reply back within one hour : "We have refunded your charge $10 for the amount you would have saved if your auto renewal was processed. The charge did not go through because the credit card on file was no longer valid." (Since I was never able to update before IN went away.)

I hope this isn't an indication of what I'll go through should I actually try to watch a competition.

Most people seem to be able to watch without any problems -- link to the thread in TV Alerts: NBC Sports Gold figure skating pass - feedback, troubleshooting, pros/cons, etc.

 

[Lara]

Yay - the geoblock for US comps has been lifted! I see skating on the app now.

Shame it can’t be everything but I’ll take it.

 

[aftershocks]

One of the annoyances on signing in is the dang robot prevention thingy. So friggin' annoying! You'd think they would make it less stupid and convoluted. Good grief!

 

[misskarne]

One of the annoyances on signing in is the dang robot prevention thingy. So friggin' annoying! You'd think they would make it less stupid and convoluted. Good grief!

You didn't click "remember me"? I only had to do it once.

 

[Sylvia]

NBC SPORTS GROUP AND U.S. FIGURE SKATING ANNOUNCE 2018-19 TELEVISION SCHEDULE (press release): http://usfsa.org/story?id=91827&type=media

(10/1/2018) —[/B]U.S. Figure Skating and NBC Sports Group announced today the broadcast schedule for the 2018-19 figure skating season. Having partnered since 2008, this season marks the first of a long-term media rights agreement between the two that was announced this past Spring and will run through 2026.
Beginning with Skate America, NBC Sports Group will present an unprecedented 80+ hours of coverage, including 30+ hours of figure skating coverage on NBC, with an additional 50+ hours airing on NBCSN. Additional programming plus encores of NBC and NBCSN figure skating coverage will be presented on the Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA. Coverage will showcase the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series, including Skate America, ISU World Championships, ISU Four Continents Championships and the ISU European Championships.

A new thread has been started in the TV Alerts forum: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/threads/nbc-nbcsn-broadcast-schedule-2018-2019.104477/

(Not sure if "Additional programming" at the beginning of the sentence I bolded above means extra hours of coverage from events will be aired on the Olympic Channel or not?).

ETA: https://olympics.nbcsports.com/2018/10/01/figure-skating-tv-schedule-nbc/

 

[shuilee]

Bad news! The Olympic Channel will not show live coverage of the GP events this year. So if you want to watch the Short Programs or Free Dances live, you have to pay the 59 dollars. But Olympic Channel will show taped-delay broadcasts 2-4 days later.

So are they still offering that 10 dollar coupon?

 

[Frau Muller]

Bad news! The Olympic Channel will not show live coverage of the GP events this year. So if you want to watch the Short Programs or Free Dances live, you have to pay the 59 dollars. But Olympic Channel will show taped-delay broadcasts 2-4 days later.

So are they still offering that 10 dollar coupon?

Great news! I don’t care about a couples of days delay.

 

[insideedgeua]

I’m hoping that means if I already purchased NBC Gold and set up a VPN ( outside of USA), I will be able to stream the Olympic Channel.

Or will the Olympic Channel be something else that I need to pay for?

 

[TanithandBenFan]

I think The Olympic Channel streaming is available only to those who have a cable subscription to that channel.