NBC.... Why only ladies not men?

[nickp91]

I would gladly take over the Nathan Chen promotion department

 

[sheetz]

FYI, NBC was scheduled to air last year's World's Men's FS live in prime trime.

NBC Sports and U.S. Figure Skating Announce 2019-20 Television Schedule - U.S. Figure Skating Fan Zone

NBC Sports and U.S. Figure Skating announced today the broadcast schedule for the 2019-20 figure skating season, featuring 80+ hours of coverage between October

usfigureskatingfanzone.com

Figure skating is one of the few sports where women are more p opular than men and where the viewing power is focussed on the ladies een if not American dominated. Yes, all three American men have a medal chance but they just don't have the interest orendorsements. Nathan is ana mazing athlete, skater but he is not as a big as a draw for endorsements.

Nathan has by far the biggest endorsements of any US skater. In addition to Nike and Toyota he recently signed with Panasonic.

 

[moonvine]

Great jumps are actually very artistic expressive. True poerty in motion.

The American ladies get beat by better skaters. No shame in that.

I disagree with this entire premise. And I don’t think better jumping necessarily means better skating.

 

[moonvine]

I think ladies is perhaps the least exciting event this year. Love Rika and Sasha but the three top podium places are pretty much going to be distributed in some manner between those two and the lovely Anna. Men's, Ice dance, and pairs are so much less predictable and the Men's field is stacked. The US men are also real contenders.. The US ice dancers, too. Why isn't the US promoting them?

I can barely watch ice dance anymore myself. The placements are pretty much predetermined barring a huge major mistake like a fall (which obviously can happen). It’s extremely frustrating.
I have no idea why NBC doesn’t promote the men. Maybe because they had the gold awarded to Nathan Chen at the last Olympics and got burned.

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

I have no idea why NBC doesn’t promote the men. Maybe because they had the gold awarded to Nathan Chen at the last Olympics and got burned.

Sadly, I think this simply reflects the lack of interest in figure skating in the US. The less that smaller events like the GP series are aired, the less exposure fans get to the top names in the sport.

 

[Seven Sisters]

I would gladly take over the Nathan Chen promotion department

I think you may be on to something here. USFS/NBC do put a lot of effort into promoting Nathan but, it’s just not the right sort of effort. They focus solely on his achievements and don’t really get into him as a person; after they mention his attendance at Yale, they seem to run out of things to say. In fact he seems to have plenty of personality, and there is much about him that a more accomplished promotion team could use effectively. My own daughter, who is his age, finds him hot!

 

[isk82]

It seems as though Peacock is not showing practice sessions live (or recorded) like they did for Nationals.

 

[alexocfp]

I disagree with this entire premise. And I don’t think better jumping necessarily means better skating.

That’s fine. Not here to argue nor convince you of anything.

You like what you like and I like what I like.

I’m just lucky that the sport is going the way I like at this point I’m time.

 

[Scott512]

I am dumbfounded. NBC tv is only broadcasting the ladies free skate, relegating all 3 other areas to a follow up presentation.

We have some wonderfully expressive and mature female skaters but they will not have a shot at medals with all the youngsters mechanically performing triples and quads.

But our men have great prospects... Nathan and Vincent both have the potential to medal... and who doesn’t want to savor Jason’s short again?!

Our ice dancers, especially H and D, have more chance of placing at the top than do the ladies!

I’m so tired of the focus on the women’s competition, sitting through so many ho hum skaters in order to view our competitors only to see them beaten by unartistic expressively bland skaters who jump.

But to not show the men when we have the World Champion unbeaten since the last Olympics is just unfathomable. Someone please help me understand...as I see figure skating fans are mostly older women...when there are opportunities to engage younger people with world class athlete performers like Nathan.

It's a business move but it's strange business. So the way you explain this is that they would rather show the Russian women on NBC then the American men. That can't be it can it?

 

[rollerblade]

You guys are acting like they aren't showing the other discipline at all. They are still showing it, just on a different channel.

TV viewership is down as a whole, because most people rather watch things online or on demand. I don't even remember the last time I turned on the TV on a Saturday evening. Actually, the last time I turned on the TV was on Feb 7th.

 

[sheetz]

It's a business move but it's strange business. So the way you explain this is that they would rather show the Russian women on NBC then the American men. That can't be it can it?

The broadcast for the Ladies FS is 2 hours in length, but my hunch is that they will only show the US ladies and the medalists. The remainder of the time can be used to recap the best performances from the US Men, ID, and Pairs.

 

[ramurphy2005]

The description on my cable guide says that the prime time broadcast is men's and ladies' free skates.

 

[TallyT]

IMO, NBC is making a huge mistake here. They should be promoting Nathan as a serious contender for the Olympic Gold in 2022. We all love a winner and the US will definitely be watching if they know we have a REAL shot at bringing home the gold. I love our ladies but, I think we'd all be thrilled if Bradie makes the top 5. We also have 3 Men instead of 2 like our ladies. As much as we all love skating, most people will not be thrilled to see other countries beat our skaters ( Even though they deserve to )

Three rather large problems with your argument. Firstly, they tried that in 2018 to the point that quite a few of the average American sports fans who even noticed skating were posting online how tired of the hype they were before he even stepped on the ice. And then it backfired with a vengeance.

Secondly it's still a loooooong time - probably longer than anyone's admitting as yet - till the winter Olympics, so given the summer ones are still (sort of) on the cards with a goodly number of equal medal hopefuls of greater national appeal, trying to make America care about Chen and Zhou now is probably not worth the effort to the media. It's a business, they want ratings, they want them from specific demographics, and they want them now

And thirdly, oh yes... in 2010 a US male skater with only a little less charisma and general appeal did bring home the gold, remember? It did squat to popularise the discipline.

 

[Tinymavy15]

I agree 100% with Ic3Rabbit. Peacock Premium is your best option. Sign up for it for $4.99 for one month and you will see EVERYTHING live with (most likely) no commentary. My recollection is that you can also watch replays of the events, although it's hard to know if they'll do Worlds the same way they did US Nats. I have NBC SN but get tired of them picking and choosing which skaters I'll see. I feel the same as you about the men, and I love pairs and don't want to miss any of the skaters!

Do you know if you can get Peacock in Mexico? I'm in Mexico and worried about getting geowalled out of the ISU feed.

 

[Arriba627]

Do you know if you can get Peacock in Mexico? I'm in Mexico and worried about getting geowalled out of the ISU feed.

I went into the online chat and asked, and the answer I got was NO.

 

[mrrice]

The funny thing that for me, without peacock I wouldn’t be here. I started following the sport again because they added figure skating coverage. I subscribed to peacock for the premier league and the skiing and only sampled figure skating because they moved it from gold.

And I love that there is no commentary. I’ll get the commentary on this forum and do not need the inevitable hacks the tv station will employ anyway,

And I’m a male. Don’t watch anything except the ladies. So NBC is right.
But it wasn’t the American ladies that kept me; it was the Russians. Haha

Three rather large problems with your argument. Firstly, they tried that in 2018 to the point that quite a few of the average American sports fans who even noticed skating were posting online how tired of the hype they were before he even stepped on the ice. And then it backfired with a vengeance.

Secondly it's still a loooooong time - probably longer than anyone's admitting as yet - till the winter Olympics, so given the summer ones are still (sort of) on the cards with a goodly number of equal medal hopefuls of greater national appeal, trying to make America care about Chen and Zhou now is probably not worth the effort to the media. It's a business, they want ratings, they want them from specific demographics, and they want them now

And thirdly, oh yes... in 2010 a US male skater with only a little less charisma and general appeal did bring home the gold, remember? It did squat to popularise the discipline.

I can only speak for my students and myself. I LOVE a winner ( Plushy and Patrick ) and IMO the friends and students that I speak to on a regular basis woud rather see the Men ( Whom happen to be in contention ) than then Ladies who will be lucky to reach the final flight
.

 

[Scott512]

The broadcast for the Ladies FS is 2 hours in length, but my hunch is that they will only show the US ladies and the medalists. The remainder of the time can be used to recap the best performances from the US Men, ID, and Pairs.

That makes sense.

 

[TallyT]

I can only speak for my students and myself.

Strictly speaking, we can only speak for ourselves and our small group of People We Know when saying what should be popular (speaking as someone still sulking because her favourite TV show isn't nationally appreciated the way it should be). Facts is facts, deceased equines remain determinedly deceased equines, and neither you, your students, me or any TV station/media outlet can in the end make the general public give up their time to watch something or someone(s) when they don't want to.

The Olympic hype will come in due course: with any luck it will work better than 2010.

 

[TallyT]

Do you know if you can get Peacock in Mexico? I'm in Mexico and worried about getting geowalled out of the ISU feed.

If you are, I tried ProtoVPN (before I bough Surfshark on special) and found it a good and pretty user-friendly free VPN.

 

[starlight97]

This sounds crazy to me since Nathan Chen is American??
How could they not broadcast the one disciplin where they have a shot at gold and a secure podium finisher? While broadcasting ladies where they have no serious contenders?