Viewing Skating on TV

[Isk8NYC]

Haven't had a poll for a while, so I thought I'd gauge viewing habits of Figure Skating fans. Seems to me that most of us record skating programs and watch them later, but maybe that's just me talking! :halo:

HOW DO YOU WATCH SKATING PROGRAMS ON TELEVISION?

[Meredith]

None of the above?

I usually watch the broadcast and record it at the same time. If it is something I think I'll want to see again, I save the it. If not, I delete it.

[Isk8NYC]

Wouldn't that be the same as watching the broadcast live?
(Note that broadcasts are usually pre-recorded themselves.)

[Helen88]

None of the above?

I usually watch the broadcast and record it at the same time. If it is something I think I'll want to see again, I save the it. If not, I delete it.

Yeah, I do that. I watch them live when I get the chance, but they always seem to be on when I'm out :roll:

[Meredith]

Yeah, I do that. I watch them live when I get the chance, but they always seem to be on when I'm out :roll:

I hear that.

I changed my recording habits when I fell asleep with my VCR on "pause"watching the Olympics and missed A/P's winning free dance. :cry:

Sorry, Isk8NYC, didn't mean to come across as witchy.

[icedancer2]

Lately I have been watching them on Chinese or European TV on the internet.

It's nice to not have to listen to English commentary and just concentrate on the skating!

The connections don't always work, however.

[flippet]

I never know when skating is on anymore, and since so much of it moved to cable anyway, which I can't afford, I've pretty much given up. Sometimes I'll run across it and think, ooh! Skating! But mostly the broadcasters have made it so difficult that I've given up fighting them. :(

Now, if I hear about a performance that I really would like to see, I go find it it on YouTube. Hallelujah for that....no longer at the mercy of the television schedules! :D

[Nicki]

Can we vote for more than one choice? If I'm at home during a broadcast, I watch it when it's being aired. If not, I tape/Tivo it and watch it when I get home.

[frvanilla]

Usually I watch the broadcasts live. If I'm not home or if the show is not aired, I go watch it on YouTube. :oops:

[Isk8NYC]

Sorry, Isk8NYC, didn't mean to come across as witchy.You didn't, I just thought I'd ask in case I missed something.

I've been surprised to see that my DVR's recording something, opened the list, and found that it was recording a skating program. Made a bowl of popcorn and sat right down!

[skateflo]

I try and watch them all when they are broadcast, record them (VCR - don't have a DVD recorder) so I can pause during commercials. I have a friend out of state that I send occasional copies to and another friend in Europe that I record on my other VCR (PAL format) 'live' to send out right away. I've been known to have two NTSC VCRs recording plus the PAL one all going at the same time!.

Sometimes (non-competition broadcasts) that I may record live while I do other household things, and then look at the tape later.....

[Isk8NYC]

In some ways, I prefer watching recordings because you can fast-forward the commercials and fluff. I used to HATE watching every single score come up twice under the old scoring system. I liked to cut to the chase and watch the summaries.

For the newbies, the best "Skating on TV" schedule for the United States is http://www.heatherw.com/mk/sch.htm (http://www.heatherw.com/mk/sch.htm).
It's updated regularly and includes unexpected programs like the Biography/Lifetime profiles on Nancy Kerrigan, Peggy Fleming, Dorothy Hamill, etc.

[Sonic]

Can we vote for more than one choice? If I'm at home during a broadcast, I watch it when it's being aired. If not, I tape/Tivo it and watch it when I get home.

Yeah good point. I watch skating live if I'm home, but if I'm not I'll record it and watch later.

Sxx

[mikawendy]

Can we vote for more than one choice? If I'm at home during a broadcast, I watch it when it's being aired. If not, I tape/Tivo it and watch it when I get home.

ITA--sometimes I watch live (if I'm home). If I'm supposed to be at the rink myself, I tape and try to watch during the same week (to avoid coming across spoilers as I catch up on reading the sports page from my newspaper and/or online posts--or when I'm on the phone w/my mom--she spoiled the NHK ladies' results for me even before the event was broadcast :twisted: ). Sometimes I can't watch the tape until 1-2 weeks later.

In some ways, I prefer watching recordings because you can fast-forward the commercials and fluff. I used to HATE watching every single score come up twice under the old scoring system. I liked to cut to the chase and watch the summaries.

I also prefer watching recordings because if there's cool footwork or something else that makes me go "what was that!!!???!!" I can run the tape back and look at it in slo mo. This is also good if I'm trying to figure out how to do an element and I want to take a slo mo look at how an elite skater does the element.

[Isk8NYC]

Can we vote for more than one choice? If I'm at home during a broadcast, I watch it when it's being aired. If not, I tape/Tivo it and watch it when I get home.I tried to change the poll options, but it won't let me add the multiple selection. Sorry.

I guess you could choose the MOST likely option.

[tidesong]

I essentially don't watch my figure skating on tv. Because they don't show it here for the most part. I get my figure skating videos off the net and watch it on the computer

[Isk8NYC]

Good point, Tidesong. I left off the internet viewing - that I can fix!

I updated the poll options above to include internet viewing. I thought of it as watching a recording, but it would be interesting to see the impact.

[Artemis]

Most of the time I'll record and watch later, either because I'm not home at the time of the broadcast, or else I can't stand the commercials. But for really big competitions (notably the Olympics, Worlds & Canadians to a lesser degree) I'll watch live if I can, but always record at the same time.

And can I just say how much I love my new DVD recorder with hard drive? It's such a breeze to record a whole event, then edit out the commercials, the excess talk, and any human Zamboni performances or skaters I don't like (no! surely not!) ... then burn the result to a disc to keep. Love it!