Figure Skating Channel closing Aug 31st

[cecealias]

oh dear....less than a year too!

http://www.mediazone.com/channel/figureskating/jsp/index.jsp

[jazzpants]

DOH!!! 8O

I've just checked my videos that I bought. Thank goodness they are still running!!! But for how long I will never know. :(

[Isk8NYC]

See if the performances are on utube.com -- maybe you won't lose them that way.

[vesperholly]

That's a real shame, I watched some stuff from ANs and North Atlantics (live!) last year. It was wonderful because otherwise, I'd have had to buy a very $$$$ tape from the video people at ANs - and the video people are not always easy to track down - and drive to Lake Placid for Norths. I can't make it to Norths again this year so I was looking forward to watching some of the events online.

"The Figure Skating Channel. U.S. Figure Skating and MediaZone have recently dissolved our business relationship and therefore we will no longer continue to broadcast The Figure Skating Channel."

I wonder why the USFSA dumped them - the company itself seems to be doing OK with many other sports and events. Booooo.

[Mrs Redboots]

Oh no!!!! I watched the British Championships (the real ones, I mean, not the Adults) on them last year and they were superb. I am sorry!

[Black Sheep]

....for Mac users like me (it was a Windows-only site).

[jazzpants]

....for Mac users like me (it was a Windows-only site).That and the fact that you need broadband are my only gripes about the Figure Skating Channel. I mean... how many people do you know have broadband? (No, DSL is not good enough... on my computer at home it shows in clips but that could be b/c of my very OLD computer.) I would have to watch streaming videos at work instead and for some reason, the IT people at my company does NOT like people watching streaming videos at ALL, even work related stuff! It's actually even funnier since I find out a good group of my skating friends ALL have older versions of Windows and DIAL-UP!!! (Well, okay, Terri's getting DSL soon...) Maybe the fact that they're not targeting enough people may have contributed to their demise?

But otherwise... very sad news indeed! :cry:

[Terri C]

It's actually even funnier since I find out a good group of my skating friends ALL have older versions of Windows and DIAL-UP!!! (Well, okay, Terri's getting DSL soon...)

No, Terri is not getting DSL, at least for now.
If you ask me there needs to be a figure skating cable channel that shows everything, heck they could have a soap opera about life 'round the rink, Ice Diaries, etc to pass the time between competitions!!

[vesperholly]

That and the fact that you need broadband are my only gripes about the Figure Skating Channel. I mean... how many people do you know have broadband? (No, DSL is not good enough... on my computer at home it shows in clips but that could be b/c of my very OLD computer.) I would have to watch streaming videos at work instead and for some reason, the IT people at my company does NOT like people watching streaming videos at ALL, even work related stuff! It's actually even funnier since I find out a good group of my skating friends ALL have older versions of Windows and DIAL-UP!!! (Well, okay, Terri's getting DSL soon...) Maybe the fact that they're not targeting enough people may have contributed to their demise?

But otherwise... very sad news indeed! :cry:
Yes, but you could also download programs afterwards and watch them.

Like I said, the company's not going under, just the figure skating portion. Which leads me to believe that the USFSA has withdrawn the access to their events.

[Isk8NYC]

No, Terri is not getting DSL, at least for now.
If you ask me there needs to be a figure skating cable channel that shows everything, heck they could have a soap opera about life 'round the rink, Ice Diaries, etc to pass the time between competitions!!That was the Ice Channel's original goal, but they couldn't sell it. They pursued that concept for about 2-3 years before setting for the online broadcasts. I guess not enough people bought into it, huh?

It rattles my cage when ESPN shows baseball games from the 1980's when they could be showing ice skating.

[mikawendy]

I'm sorry to hear the news about Figure Skating Channel. I had recently bought an event from AN to watch and had a lot of technical difficulty (turned out to be an issue on their end), but the up side of it was that I had had such difficulty getting the issue sorted out that they wound up giving me free access to the Figure Skating Channel content for a week. I really enjoyed watching everything and had been planning on paying to see the various Adult Sectionals this winter....

[jazzpants]

Yes, but you could also download programs afterwards and watch them.

Like I said, the company's not going under, just the figure skating portion. Which leads me to believe that the USFSA has withdrawn the access to their events.Nope! B/c it was in wmv format, which means not only you have to watch it in streaming video, but you have to watch it using Windows Media Player.

Yes, MediaZone itself is DEFINITELY NOT going under. Resa is working on another "channel" of sorts. She's not out of a job!!!

[Terri C]

It rattles my cage when ESPN shows baseball games from the 1980's when they could be showing ice skating.

Or worse yet, poker!:roll:

[renatele]

Nope! B/c it was in wmv format, which means not only you have to watch it in streaming video, but you have to watch it using Windows Media Player.

Uhm, I dare to disagree - wmv can definitely be downloaded -I downloaded the events I paid for (and that's what was recommended by MediaZone for those with slow connections, anyway). And btw, I can still watch them, even the ones I got back in March.

[Mrs Redboots]

Uhm, I dare to disagree - wmv can definitely be downloaded -I downloaded the events I paid for (and that's what was recommended by MediaZone for those with slow connections, anyway). And btw, I can still watch them, even the ones I got back in March.I didn't download the events I watched, but was able to watch them very happily on DSL broadband - at the time only 2 meg, too (we now have 8 meg!). And I could have downloaded and saved, had I wished - it is definitely an option.

[Mel On Ice]

Or worse yet, poker!:roll:

or talk endlessly about fantasy football and baseball leagues.

[Isk8NYC]

The USFSA probably has a better commission deal with someone else. The programs will resurface or a better scheme will be created.

Hey! Who started the petition for Adult Bronze? No, I'm not opening another can of snakes -- Let's not start THAT again."

Is there a way to put up a petition to get ESPN to start showing reruns during the off-season?

[jazzpants]

Uhm, I dare to disagree - wmv can definitely be downloaded -I downloaded the events I paid for (and that's what was recommended by MediaZone for those with slow connections, anyway). And btw, I can still watch them, even the ones I got back in March.Yeah, I downloaded my wmv file too and I can still watch the ones I got back in March.

Alright! Here's the defnitition of wmv and streaming video from Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Media_Video
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streaming_media

I have heard from others that DSL works just fine. Me... my files are a bit choppy but you can still watch it. Work's computer is just fine since it's a T1 line and newer computer. (Must get myself a new computer soon. It's depressing for a computer geek like me to work on a very OLD computer like the one I have. But eh... I need the money for skating! There goes my trip for AN 2007 in Chicago! LOL!!!)

[Isk8NYC]

I still have an old IBM notebook running Win98. For shame... :oops: I use it for word processing and web-surfing when I travel. I figure, if it's stolen, no great loss. The batteries are long dead, so it's very light!

Did the Figure Skating Channel give advance notice of the closing to subscribers?

[jazzpants]

I still have an old IBM notebook running Win98. For shame... :oops: I use it for word processing and web-surfing when I travel. I figure, if it's stolen, no great loss. The batteries are long dead, so it's very light!

Did the Figure Skating Channel give advance notice of the closing to subscribers?My current home computer dates back just before Win98 came out! Back then, our desktop computer was not quite top of the line but close to it. Is that old enough? :oops: :P :twisted: :lol: Of course, we would NEVER EVER install Win98 on it knowing that Win95 back then was crashing left and right and were skeptical whether Win98 was any better. (It wasn't...) We had on WinNT instead then.

Alright, enough geek talk.... no, I didn't get ANY email from the Figure Skating Channel about it no longer providing service. Then again, I only did pay-per-event, so I probably wouldn't get anything anyway.

[doubletoe]

I am a subscriber and I got no e-mail.
But it's been just about exactly a year, so subscriptions are pretty much up now anyway.

[doubletoe]

Resa is working on another "channel" of sorts. She's not out of a job!!!

Do you know if it will have figure skating events, and if so, which ones?

[jazzpants]

Do you know if it will have figure skating events, and if so, which ones?Sadly, it's NOT related to figure skating... I remember she mentioned another sport but I couldn't remember which one...

[Sylvia]

FYI, I've heard that U.S. Figure Skating will be announcing a new "pay channel" for watching U.S. qualifying competitions this season (and it's supposed to be MAC-compatible). So, stay tuned...

[doubletoe]

Well, if they want the Regionals competitions, they've got about 6 weeks to get it together. . .

[dbny]

BTW, you can get Windows Media Player for Mac. It's a free download and also comes with MS Office for Mac. That solves the problem of how to play WMV and WMA files on a Mac.