ABC and the ISU | Golden Skate

ABC and the ISU

Joined
Jul 11, 2003
While in Dortmund there was some sttory going around that the ISU did not renew ABC's contract. I was concentrating on skating at the time and did not pursue what it was all about.

Can anyone tell me what's the deal with ABC and the ISU?

Joe
 

PrincessLeppard

~ Evgeni's Sex Bomb ~
Final Flight
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
I'm not positive, but I believe all skating events next year, with the exception of Nats, will be on ESPN.

There was much discussion of it on FSU about a month ago, and my memory is hazy at the moment....

Laura :)
 

SK8GR8

Rinkside
Joined
Dec 16, 2003
Isn't ESPN owned by ABC? I know in the past they have sometimes shown (for example) the short programs on ESPN and then repeated a condensed version of the shorts along with the long program broadcast on ABC. It's the exact same broadcast--camera angles, commentary, everything. So I would think that if they weren't going to renew the ABC contract, this would mean ESPN could not show it either, it would have to be NBC or some other company.

:confused:
 

Longhornliz

Final Flight
Joined
Apr 1, 2004
I think they are all owned by Disney or touchtone... but I'm not sure that if ABC was going to be passed over that it would mean that ESPN would be excluded because of their association. If ABC does not carry ISU events next year I hope that Dick Button will still be commentating. I have such love for that guy.
 

Antilles

Medalist
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
They're 20 million contract with ABC is now a 5 million contract with ESPN. This is the main reason prize money is being cut next year. ABC still has a separate contract for Nats.
 

Longhornliz

Final Flight
Joined
Apr 1, 2004
Does anyone have any info about the motivation to leave ABC? Or did ABC drop it voluntarily? Seems like the controversy about the timing deduction for kwan would have brought more attention to the sport from other viewers who wouldnt normally tune in... so I doubt that ratings are the issue, especialy considering the time slots skating typically airs are not competitive. I'm puzzled.
 

Jhar55

Medalist
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
This will really suck for those who don't have cable. The only thing I don't like about ESPN is the score bar they have running across the bottom. And would that mean no more Dick and Peggy??
 

heyang

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Well - that just sucks overall. It's definitely not good for the sport's exposure. Many people have access to ESPN, but it's a secondary consideration in my home. I also dislike the running scores across the screen.
 

LarasB

Rinkside
Joined
Aug 4, 2003
This is terrible. I know that there's been a lot of complaints with the ABC coverage of figure skating programs, but they are far better than ESPN. ESPN has those running scores in the bottom of the screen, for some reason their picture is not as sharp and the sound is not as good as it is on ABC. I wonder, if everything is going to be shown on ESPN, are they now going to cut coverage because before they showed parts on ESPN and parts on ABC. It seems that the fans of figure skating always get jipped somehow.
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
Interesting articles Mathman - Prize money has to be cut but not Cqinquanta's' salary.

I was talking to an Israeli judge in Dortmund who said the Sport is in decline. She thought it was because of SLC scandals. I mentioned the silly Pro competitions. She agreed. That didn't help.

If these changes are de facto then we need more information on what ESPN plans to do with it.

Joe
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
I wonder whether a petition to ESPN to not run scores during figure skating performances would be possible? Run them during scoring, fluff or commercials, if they must, but not during skating?

One plus side to ESPN. There are sometimes 1 or 2 more performances as there are fewer commercials than on ABC.

The worst however would be if CBS took over. CBS's way to cover Europeans, for example, is to show the men's champion and the ladies champion with 2 hours of golf, billiards or duck pin bowling in between. If you don't believe me, take a look at tapes from Euro's 1988.

dpp

dpp
 

euterpe

Medalist
Joined
Sep 4, 2003
The real problem with having skating on ESPN is that if there is another sporting event scheduled before the skating, and the other event runs overtime, ESPN will cut the beginning of the skating broadcast. They have done this with other secondary sports like thoroughbred horseracing, and I have no illusions about where ESPN places figureskating on the priority list.
 

Emilieanne

Rinkside
Joined
Sep 3, 2003
The ISU still needs the monies that would come from broadcasting skating events. Where do they think they are going to get the same amount of money they got from ABC? We all know that US TV broadcasting provided the ISU with monies substantial enough to make up over half of its budget. Without that amount of money, all of the ISU powers-that-be are going to have to subject themselves to some extreme cost-cutting measures (all those perks they all enjoy cost lots of money) which they will most likely find humiliating and unpleasant. I am in favor of anything that is going to make them squirm.:D

It is too bad for all the fans to miss out on viewing skating because of the bureaucratic stupidity that is going on. :sheesh:
 

berthes ghost

Final Flight
Joined
Jul 30, 2003
Why do you assume it is the ISU's decision? That makes no sense.

From what I remember from the articles about this a few months back, ABC (or, more specificly, thier parent company) is no longer interested in buying the rights. The ESPN offer is the only one the ISU got. It's not like they are going to sell to the lowest bidder.
 

Gipson

Rinkside
Joined
Jan 22, 2004
I really didn't think the SLC scandal was going to be that bad. I figured people would forget about it in a few months. I didn't expect it to be cited as a reason for decline...
 

Old Cat Lady

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 29, 2003
Gipson said:
I really didn't think the SLC scandal was going to be that bad. I figured people would forget about it in a few months. I didn't expect it to be cited as a reason for decline...

I don't think it's really fair to attribute it all to the SLC thing. Skating popularity was in a decline long before that. I get the feeling that people in the skating community are looking for something to blame and that's the easiest thing.

I'm personally looking forward to more skating on ESPN. The scrolling scores are annoying - especially the chime - but I think ESPN more than makes up for it by showing 1 or 2 more performances per broadcast. It used to be that ABC would show 6 skaters per hour, now there are times when only 4 get shown in an hour.

This year on ABC coverage, we got 2 short programs that were already shown on ESPN, 4 free dances, and 8 ladies' free skates in 3 whole hours of coverage. We only got 4 pairs and 5 men in 2 hours of coverage while chacking one of the best performances in the competition (or so I hear since I didn't get to see it!). Last year we didn't even get to see the bronze medalists in dance. The sad thing is that this is still better than CBS coverage. I wish ESPN would respect skating more, but their coverage is generally more professional.
 
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Longhornliz

Final Flight
Joined
Apr 1, 2004
I am also hesitant to attribute all of the blame for this move to the SLC scandal. I'm a big fan of skating and I had already gotten over it. There have been acusations of rigging for years, this is just the highest profile instance where they caught them in it. In the past all the drama with the eastern block giving unwarented low scored to north american skaters drew more attention as well. I dont think that any scoring system can ever totally do away with inconsistencies in judging... although its a sport, it is one that is evaluated subjectively. I think that some of the scandal is actually GOOD for the sport. Look at the ratings from the lilehammer olympics due to the whole nancy and tanya thing.
 

dizzydi

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
Longhornliz,

I think you make a good point that controversy tends to increase interest in figureskating. People, unfortunately, are naturally drawn to trouble. I believe the tendency would be for fans and even non-fans to tune in to catch more of the same.

I believe it's boredom which loses spectators in figureskating. For one thing, at one point there were too many professional competitions on tv which I believe became boring for the general public. Personally speaking, there is no such thing as too much figureskating on tv for me but I'm an avid fan.

There is no question that the popularity of figureskating is very low right now. I'm just hoping that interest will increase as we get closer to the Olympics.

Dizzy
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
Emilieanne said:
The ISU still needs the monies that would come from broadcasting skating events. Where do they think they are going to get the same amount of money they got from ABC? We all know that US TV broadcasting provided the ISU with monies substantial enough to make up over half of its budget. Without that amount of money, all of the ISU powers-that-be are going to have to subject themselves to some extreme cost-cutting measures (all those perks they all enjoy cost lots of money) which they will most likely find humiliating and unpleasant. I am in favor of anything that is going to make them squirm.:D

It is too bad for all the fans to miss out on viewing skating because of the bureaucratic stupidity that is going on. :sheesh:

Yes, the ISU does need the money especially to pay cinquantas since his salary is not affected by the cuts. Maybe Smart Ones did not want to advertise anymore. We don't know.

ABC's decision I believe has a lot to do with the decline of interest in Figure Skating. We, on these forums probably make up about 200,000 avid fans but that's nothing compared to the growing sport of Nascaa. sad but true. ABC puts on the Sport which will bring in the most renenue. There was nothing about it being picked up by CBS and NBC. We have to face the fact that the Sport is in decline. Casual fans are no longer interested, although I can not see anyone looking at race cars going round and round for 2 hours. But people do.

Let's be hopeful that ABC's subsidiary ESPN can make it a decent coverage of figure skating.

Joe
 
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