Figure Skating Channel launched!

[JaCallea]

They're gonna air Southwests on the new Figure Skating Channel! Regionals, Sectionals and Nationals are planned on being aired here as well.Figure Skating Channel (http://www.thefigureskatingchannel.com/grm)

[sk8hardandfast]

The cool thing is that they are covering both regular circuit, adults & synchro. There's a good mix of stuff.

[sceptique]

Are they going to include Olympics at some point? I don't have TV at home at all - neither aerial nor cable, just Internet, so it'd be good if there is a chance to watch Torino over web.

[cecealias]

Hi All,

I've been lurking here for ages. Figured this would be a nice time to pop up...

Someone told me about it several days ago.

In addition to being supported by the USFSA, the figure skating channel does sound like a good business model because it is inclusive of ALL figure skaters of all levels and disciplines.

The sponsorship opportunities for up and coming skaters on this site are tremendous in addition to getting exposure for skaters that deserve it but haven't gotten it.

In addition - I am certain all of this video footage would help solve the eternal question of - What is expected of skaters at a certain competitive level? Or even perhaps test level?

I would subscribe to it before it starts to get big. :)

[dbny]

OMG, that is soooo tempting. I may just do it.

[manleywoman]

Except that it's not yet for Macintosh users. :evil:

[Mrs Redboots]

Are they going to include Olympics at some point? I don't have TV at home at all - neither aerial nor cable, just Internet, so it'd be good if there is a chance to watch Torino over web.Even if you did have TV at home, Sceptique, you'ld hardly ever see skating on it, and practically never on aerial. That's the main reason we have a digibox and get Top Up, so we can at least see the Europeans and Worlds! I suppose they'll show about five minutes of the Olympics, but mostly they show other sports.... Grrrrrr..... Last Olympics my husband said, "Oh well, let's watch the ice-hockey, at least it takes place on ice!"

[FSWer]

Say what number is that channel on Comcast?

[Skate@Delaware]

Say what number is that channel on Comcast?
It isn't on Comcast-it's over the internet...but you need a broadband connection to watch it.

[Debbie S]

Say what number is that channel on Comcast?

This channel is actually just a webcast channel. (Now if it was a cable TV channel - that would be really cool! There was a group of promoters trying to establish a TV skating channel - like the Golf Network and such - but they couldn't line up enough sponsors.) But if you have Comcast, you're in luck, b/c they will likely be airing bits of South Atlantic Regionals and Easterns this year - at least, I assume that's why those events are not on the list of events this new channel will be webcasting.

[Joan]

Too tempting - archived video and all. I put up the $$.

[fschannel]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the interest in The Figure Skating Channel. I hope that I can clear up some of the questions that you may have.

1. Is there going to be coverage of my region/my competition?

Please keep checking the competitions page on the thefigureskatingchannel.com for announcements. We expect to be announcing more regions this week upon confirmations of whether they will be live, near live (1 day - 1-2 weeks post event).

2. Are they going to be live?

As often as we can cover the events live, we will. Not all rinks have web connections, so there are some hurdles that we have to overcome to bring you live coverage. Our preference is live and we will try to offer that as best we can.

3. Is there a programming preference?

Our goal is to cover everything - all regions, all disciplines, all levels of skating. We would never choose to cover one region over the next. Skaters are worldwide and skating fans, parents, coaches, are also worldwide. With your support, we can try to broadcast as much skating for the world to see.

4. More questions? Please reach out to us - we want to hear your questions & concerns.

On a personal note, from a fellow skater (my club is SCSF), I am proud to present to you The Figure Skating Channel. I hope to continue to hear your suggestions and hope that you will grow this channel with me.

Thanks for your support.

Resa Lee
Director of Content, MediaZone.com
The Figure Skating Channel
www.thefigureskatingchannel.com

[Mrs Redboots]

Do I understand that this service will be available worldwide, not just in the USA? It's seriously tempting, as we have very little skating coverage here in the UK; even our national championships aren't broadcast (although there was a sort-of webcast last year).

[sceptique]

Even if you did have TV at home, Sceptique, you'ld hardly ever see skating on it, and practically never on aerial. That's the main reason we have a digibox and get Top Up, so we can at least see the Europeans and Worlds! I suppose they'll show about five minutes of the Olympics, but mostly they show other sports.... Grrrrrr..... Last Olympics my husband said, "Oh well, let's watch the ice-hockey, at least it takes place on ice!"

Oh, shame...

I was seriously tempted to buy tickets to Torino, but with only premium ones left, it's a touch too stressful for our budget. So looks like the best choice would be to go see my family for two weeks and watch Olympics on Russian TV - I'm pretty sure they will have prime time coverage there on at least 1 channel. :D Quite an exotic holiday - February in Siberia (-25C + winds) :lol: All for the love of skating!!

[Mrs Redboots]

Oh, shame...

I was seriously tempted to buy tickets to Torino, but with only premium ones left, it's a touch too stressful for our budget. So looks like the best choice would be to go see my family for two weeks and watch Olympics on Russian TV - I'm pretty sure they will have prime time coverage there on at least 1 channel. :D Quite an exotic holiday - February in Siberia (-25C + winds) :lol: All for the love of skating!!What we used to do (this year, at least we will have Eurosport, which does cover some skating!) was to find a nice friend who did have access to Eurosport and either go and plonk ourselves on their sofa (which made for a very good tea-party last Worlds!) or smile sweetly at them and hand them some blank video-tapes!

[Justine_R]

It sounds really great but $99.99 is just too much for my bank balance at the moment.
ah, well :(.

[jazzpants]

It's seriously tempting at $99.99. However, I'll have to look thru that list and see which ones I would most definitely be curious to watch if I wasn't at that event (or want to download.) If it's only a few of them, I'd rather just go with the pay-per-event plan.

In any case, congrats to Resa and the MediaZone team on a wonderful launch of a website!!! Here's to (hopefully) a successsful business venture!

From a fellow SCSF member... (see 'ya on the ice!)

[Mel On Ice]

just when I took a vow to spend less time online...

[Mrs Redboots]

I should think I'd want to watch your Adult Nationals if I possibly can, imagine me and the Husband sitting there going "Oooh, that's XXX" and "Oh look, there's YYY".... 5,000 miles away.

Now, if they could only add on our Championships, whether Adult, Solo Dance, Novice or the main ones, that would be utter, utter blissikins..... (so I can dream, can't I - I know it wouldn't be practical!)

[fschannel]

Everyone,

Just wanted to let you know that The Figure Skating Channel has added the remaining regionals & sectionals. Now all regionals & sectionals are going to be covered.

Here's the growing list of competitions: Competition List On The Figure Skating Channel (http://www.mediazone.com/channel/figureskating/jsp/competitions.jsp)

Best,

Resa
The Figure Skating Channel
www.thefigureskatingchannel.com

[doubletoe]

Resa, how awesome that an adult skater is so actively involved in the Figure Skating Channel! Thanks for making this happen!!

[PattyP]

Resa, how awesome that an adult skater is so actively involved in the Figure Skating Channel! Thanks for making this happen!!

Ditto!!

Way to go Resa!!

[fschannel]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the support. It's been a whirlwind of a project, but I'm so excited to be working on it and to finally get to see all of the skating that we've been hearing about.

Just wanted to let you know that the North Atlantics Regionals will be broadcast live - direct from Lake Placid starting Wednesday (10/18) at 8am EDT.

If you're already a subscriber, you'll just need to login and click on the live event based on its schedule time. The times are approximate, as you know, because sometimes competitions run early/late.

Here's the link to click & watch: North Atlantic Regional Championships Live Broadcast (http://www.mediazone.com/channel/figureskating/jsp/events.jsp?eid=578)

Best,

Resa
The Figure Skating Channel

[blisspix]

Are they going to include Olympics at some point?

Doubt it. No broadcaster is permitted to broadcast Olympics footage over the Internet at this point. Olympic syndication is extremely limited, expensive and restrictive - I used to work for a broadcaster that got limited rights to the 2000 Sydney Games and even then we could only show a certain number of games, sports, and highlights. It was a complete nightmare to administer.

I guess the IOC feels that can justify this as about 60% of their entire revenue is from broadcasting rights.

So no, alas, I don't think the Olympics will be on FSchannel or any other any time soon. :(

I'm tempted on the channel, but I think I will try the per event option to make sure it works adequately on my Internet. Would love to see Worlds and Europeans again, has been many years.

[sceptique]

OK, there always is one early adopter with impulsive buying habits!

So, my first impression:

So far I downloaded one competition from Southern Pacific - it took ca 4 hours (~500Mb). I didn't try watch online option so I don't know how good streaming quality would be, but the downloaded file looks fine. Sound quality is quite good - I suppose it was captured directly from the sound system rather than through a microphone.

One of the most enjoyable part is being able to hit pause button and then study in detail each element of a skater's jump - leg position, body position, arms position etc. Also, Windows Player has a slow playback option - awesome!

On the downside, I couldn't connect to live webcast that is on now - I get "file cannot be found" message. :cry:

In a nutshell, I think it's worth 60-something quid (don't know what the exchange rate is at the moment), but if the price goes up next year, I'd suggest that the channel introduces some subscription levels, say Bronze - up to 20 events - $50; Silver - up to 50 events - $100; Gold - unlimited - $250 etc.

And could they tape British Championships (Nov 28 - Dec 3) by any chance? Just wondering....

[Sylvia]

And could they tape British Championships (Nov 28 - Dec 3) by any chance? Just wondering....
I've asked this question about TFSC possibly getting the rights to webcast other national championships, and it all will depend on the various nations' federations. Ditto for the ISU-controlled events -- Worlds, Europeans, Four Continents, Senior & Junior Grand Prix.

[Sylvia]

So, my first impression:

So far I downloaded one competition from Southern Pacific - it took ca 4 hours (~500Mb). I didn't try watch online option so I don't know how good streaming quality would be, but the downloaded file looks fine. Sound quality is quite good - I suppose it was captured directly from the sound system rather than through a microphone.

If you're interested in some of the skating highlights from the Southwest Pacific Regional Championships... A friend of mine that attended in person cited the Novice Ladies Qualifying Group A on Thursday Oct. 6th as a highlight, especially the FS performances of Victoria Rackohn [10th at 2005 US Nationals in Novice], Mirai Nagasu, Lexi Ibanez and Sophia Adams ("My Fair Lady"). Also highly mentioned were Daisuke "Dice" Murakami [2004 Novice men's silver medalist] and Douglas Razzano [4th in Junior, 2005 Nationals] in Junior Men's SP & FS and Brian Simm [6th in Novice, 2005 Nationals], Ricky Dornbush [5th in Novice, 2005 Nationals], and Christopher Caluza in Novice Men.

Other SWP performances of note that have been recommended (not meant to be a complete list):

Junior Ladies: FS of Caroline Zhang [4th in Novice, 2005 Nationals] gave an "enchanting performance" with eye-catching, fast & flexible spins, Tenile Victorsen [4th in Junior, 2005 Nationals, now co-coached by Angela Nikodinov], Crystal Shum [9th in Junior, 2005 Nationals], Angelyn Nguyen's SP.

Novice Men: Brian Simm's SP ("amazingly creative"), Ricky Dornbush ("amazing spins and footwork"), Christopher Caluza ("fun short with complex spins"; his FS featured a full spiral sequence that included a Biellmann position and ended with a spin combo with a reverse spin), Galvani Hopson's Blues SP "is worth a watch."

Novice Pairs: Amanda Sunyoto and Darryl Sulindro, a "rapidly improving brother/sister team" coached by Todd Sand.

Intermediate Ladies: "The final warmup in Sunday's Final was unbelievable. Best performance for me was Lindsay Davis's, a clinic on technically precise jumps and spins. Ellie Kawamura [who performed in the Michael Weiss Foundation benefit show in Virginia in Sept.] was incredibly fast, with solid double axels and a huge smile. Also take a peek at the innovative short program of Victoria Hecht."

Intermediate Men: "Grisha Fournier and Max Aaron's entertaining shorts with completely different styles, Sean Rabbitt's joyful FS."

Juvenile Girls: "Mariyah Thurston's spring in her jumps is worth watching". The others advancing to Juvenile Nationals in December are talented as well -- Katlynn McNab, Margaret Stevenson and Keauna McLaughlin [4th place in Junior Pairs at 2005 Nationals, now focusing on singles this season] -- "even though they didn't have their best skates in the final round."

Happy viewing!

[Mrs Redboots]

And could they tape British Championships (Nov 28 - Dec 3) by any chance? Just wondering....If you go to their website, here (http://www.skatingchampionships.co.uk/), you'll see they do plan a webcast themselves. Let's hope it's better than last year's! But even that did give one some idea of what was happening.

Are you going to watch? We're just going on the Saturday, but do plan to be there to cheer on all our friends; it's just a pity we'll miss the Primary Ladies' final, as our current men's champion's girlfriend's sister is skating in it for the first time, and I've known her since she was knee-high to the proverbial.....

[vesperholly]

That's awesome that you can download! I didn't realize that, I thought it was just streaming all the time. I am definitely going to get some of the North Atlantics finals. I was going to go up to Lake Placid this weekend, but decided to substitute for some learn to skate classes and make money instead of spending it. :lol: Hooray technology!

[sceptique]

That's awesome that you can download! I didn't realize that, I thought it was just streaming all the time. Hooray technology!

Actually, I'd probably recommend that you download. I'm now pulling the second file, and it's estimated 3 hrs download. Given that the actual video is about 1-1.5 hrs long, it means that my download speed is lower than playback speed - which means that streaming would probably be interrupted all the time. I'm planning to burn the stuff on CDs to watch at leisure - I understand you can do it from any machine as long as your license is valid.

Re video quality - it does get grainy from time to time, but if you want to use it mostly for self-instruction purposes, it doesn't really matter.

[sceptique]

Are you going to watch?

Definitely on Saturday, but I'm not sure about other days yet. I finish my current work project in mid-November, so if I don't get on a new one by then I might take a few days off.

[Joan]

And could they tape British Championships (Nov 28 - Dec 3) by any chance? Just wondering....

I noticed that they now have the British Championships scheduled for live viewing. For us in the US, that will make for some strange times of day!

[Mrs Redboots]

Just bumping this up to say that I paid my $30 to watch the British Championships, and I'm very glad I did. It is working beautifully, so far, wonderful picture quality, I'm delighted.

I do hope that we will be able to pay a "one-off" fee for other competitions in the future, like the US (and, dare I ask it, the British) Adult Championships; I don't think I'd use it enough to take out a full subscription.

But this is wonderful, and thank you so very much!

[doubletoe]

Just bumping this up to say that I paid my $30 to watch the British Championships, and I'm very glad I did. It is working beautifully, so far, wonderful picture quality, I'm delighted.

I do hope that we will be able to pay a "one-off" fee for other competitions in the future, like the US (and, dare I ask it, the British) Adult Championships; I don't think I'd use it enough to take out a full subscription.

But this is wonderful, and thank you so very much!

You can split a subscription with several friends. You can even log on at the same time with the username and password as long as you are watching different events.

[doubletoe]

So far I downloaded one competition from Southern Pacific - it took ca 4 hours (~500Mb). I didn't try watch online option so I don't know how good streaming quality would be, but the downloaded file looks fine. Sound quality is quite good - I suppose it was captured directly from the sound system rather than through a microphone.

If you have DSL, you can watch online and it's almost always fine. That option doesn't force you to wait an hour (or 4, if you have a slow connection); you can start watching right away. Even when you watch online, you can still fast-forward and rewind by dragging the little button; it just takes a little while to find the spot each time you drag. Still, if you only want to watch certain skaters, it's a great way to do it.

[techskater]

It also works well with foresite wireless, a direct site line HS internet connection.

[sceptique]

My coach's daughter is skating in Juniors FP today. Link seems to be working fine so I'm all impatient to see. Hopefully nobody walks into the office with something urgent this afternoon!

I was hoping to volunteer to do the scoring but work messed up all my plans as usual. Still, thanks goodnes for the Internet!

[Mrs Redboots]

My coach's daughter is skating in Juniors FP today. Link seems to be working fine so I'm all impatient to see. Hopefully nobody walks into the office with something urgent this afternoon!

I was hoping to volunteer to do the scoring but work messed up all my plans as usual. Still, thanks goodnes for the Internet!I know, work does interfere with skating quite dreadfully - who was it said "Work is the curse of the skating classes".

Good luck to your coach's daughter; my coach's star pupil did very, very well yesterday in her first-ever championships, finishing 11 out of 23. Our Primary couple look as though they are probably 2nd - alas, out of 2, my favourite place, too - after the compulsory dances (there is a technical glitch stopping the scores being announced) and I am about to watch our Junior couple doing their Westminster in a few minutes.