Eurosport tapes of the Olys | Golden Skate

Eurosport tapes of the Olys

Joined
Jul 11, 2003
Is there anyway I can order these tapes if there is no Pay-Per-View from Eurosport or from some fan of figure skating? No doubt NBC will limit their showings to the usual suspects and maybe one surprise if there is one.

I don't mind getting them months later. Like to check on my predictions of up and coming skaters who will not be shown on American TV.

Joe
 

nymkfan51

Medalist
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
I don't know the answer to your question Joe, but I agree that NBC will show us the bare minimum. :mad:
In fact, it is bewildering to me. They will have the Olympics on several NBC stations ... basically 24/7. There would be ample opportunity to show all the skaters ... even in the middle of the night, if they choose that option. Why not on CNBC at 2 in the morning? Tell me something better they have to air at that time!
I give up ever expecting wonderful live coverage though. :scowl:

I may just have to email them now with that suggestion. Maybe we should all do that. It couldn't hurt.
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
nymkfan51 said:
I may just have to email them now with that suggestion. Maybe we should all do that. It couldn't hurt.
It's a great idea, and tell them they will get at least a million skating fans to watch.

Joe
 

Jaana

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
Country
Finland
Joe, are you able to watch European VHS PAL tapes on your VCR? If you are able, and wish to see everything that is being shown about figure skating on Eurosport, I would suggest that maybe it would be a good idea to ask several European skating fans to do the copying or recording, so that one might do just one discipline for you. For taping of e.g. men´s free skate, one needs a 4 hour tape.

Of course there is also the language matter, LOL. If a skating fan has a cable TV, I understand that they get the Eurosport broadcast in their own language only.
 
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Eeyora

Final Flight
Joined
Aug 4, 2003
For some reason I am wondering if they will have some coverage on NBC owned BRAVO. I certainly wouldn't be surprised if they chose to air Compulsory Dance on Cable.
 

diver chick

On the Ice
Joined
Aug 18, 2003
Joe,

I can't guarantee anything just yet, but I may be able to record all the eurosport coverage and let you have copies if you can watch VHS tapes, if not I may know some-one who will be recording it all and may be able to make DVD copies. I'll check and get back to you if you like ;)
 

icenut84

Final Flight
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
Joesitz - Eurosport doesn't do pay-per-view. Your best bet is to see if someone can make copies for you, but you're in the US, right? You'd have to check if you have PAL playback (so you can play PAL format tapes), or get them converted (or put on dvd, like someone else mentioned - but afaik there's 2 different types of dvd format too). Re: the language barrier, that doesn't matter if you get copies of British Eurosport, lol. And there's always the videos people put on the internet, if it was certain skaters you were interested in seeing that won't be broadcast in the US. I have also read comments about people actually watching (or listening?) to eurosport on the net, though I don't know if or how you do that. (Best bet is to ask over at FSU, as that's where a lot of videos get posted and where I think I've seen people talk about watching on the net.)
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
Thank you all for your replies to my dilemna. It seems there are others who like figure skating beyond Sasha and Michelle and want to see everything.

The first group to skate usually has at least one skater who shows potential.
The second group usually has one skater who should be top 12 competitor and he/she is skating desperately to show the judges this is not the group I should be with.
The middle group to skate is the interesting one. More than one of top skaters who are desperate to show they wuzzrobbed and several others decrying 'wait till next year' and they actually look good for next year.
The next to last group to skate is the tough luck group. All good skaters but they have their work cut out to top the last six to skate.

The above is what I want to see. Not just Cohen, Slutskaya and Kwan but then I am in the minority.

Joe
 

emma

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 28, 2004
Joesitz said:
Thank you all for your replies to my dilemna. It seems there are others who like figure skating beyond Sasha and Michelle and want to see everything.

The first group to skate usually has at least one skater who shows potential.
The second group usually has one skater who should be top 12 competitor and he/she is skating desperately to show the judges this is not the group I should be with.
The middle group to skate is the interesting one. More than one of top skaters who are desperate to show they wuzzrobbed and several others decrying 'wait till next year' and they actually look good for next year.
The next to last group to skate is the tough luck group. All good skaters but they have their work cut out to top the last six to skate.

The above is what I want to see. Not just Cohen, Slutskaya and Kwan but then I am in the minority.

Joe

count me in that small group too...i would love to see all of the competitors for the reasons you mentioned AND to really appreciate just how good the top blank (fill in the blank with the number you prefer) are.
 

CDMM1991

Medalist
Joined
Jun 3, 2005
I think it was a great idea to suggest the idea ... did anybody find out where we can reach them?
 

R.D.

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Well, NBC has other events to show, don't they?

I know I may not be a die-hard figure skating fan like many people here, but you have to see it this way: if figure skating gets more coverage, SOME other event will have to be chacked, or shortened. That's not really fair to the viewer as a whole, and that's also why I believe they (NBC) jump from event to event in their coverage. It's a style that seemed to turn a few people off, but I kind of liked it actually, because I got to see many different sports, instead of just one (or a few).

About using a cable outlet for coverage: well, super-extended coverage may reel in die-hard fans, but what about the average TV viewer? Would the average TV viewer , sports fan, or even Olympic fan be interested in such coverage? Would it really help the end product, which is the Olympics? Remember that the purpose of NBC's cable Olympic coverage (as much as I hated this) was to reel in viewers who watch their cable networks (like MSNBC, etc.) and have them tune into the main network for more coverage. Yes, it's all about the ratings once again. :frown2: I

Then again, maybe I underestimate the number of die-hards out there...
 

Doggygirl

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 18, 2003
At 2005 World's....

... I took advantage of the opportunity to get coverage over the net through www.russiantvonline.com. It took some "doing" on the front end to get the settings right, but once that was done I thoroughly enjoyed watching a depth of skaters we would NEVER see on US TV.

From "after the fact" reports, it sounds like the www.russiantvonline.com folks got a good bit of "whoopass" from the ISU, and from the US TV networks. I'm really sorry to hear about either of those outcomes!! The reality these days is that we live in a global community and economy. The US networks, and all other networks need to compete for my $ and my time. I say, let the games begin. Give me www.russiantvonline.com. I would much rather pay for that service than wait DAYS, (and days, and days, and days) for main stream USA coverage. PLUS I got the added benefit of seeing lots of skaters that were never shown on US TV.

I really hope Eurosport, or something like that takes over.

DG
 

childfreegirl

Final Flight
Joined
Jan 6, 2004
Joesitz said:
Thank you all for your replies to my dilemna. It seems there are others who like figure skating beyond Sasha and Michelle and want to see everything.

The first group to skate usually has at least one skater who shows potential.
The second group usually has one skater who should be top 12 competitor and he/she is skating desperately to show the judges this is not the group I should be with.
The middle group to skate is the interesting one. More than one of top skaters who are desperate to show they wuzzrobbed and several others decrying 'wait till next year' and they actually look good for next year.
The next to last group to skate is the tough luck group. All good skaters but they have their work cut out to top the last six to skate.

The above is what I want to see. Not just Cohen, Slutskaya and Kwan but then I am in the minority.

Joe

Me too. I loved watching Eurosports coverage of the ladies LP, or was is SP? at World's, even though it was in Italian. I got to see a lot of skaters I'd seen raved about on the internet, but never seen compete. That was the highlight of World's for me.
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
Red Dog - You are not a figure skating fan per se by your own admission. Your sole interest is in the Ladies and in particular, Cohen. Nothing wrong with that and your are lucky because that's exactly what you will get on NBC in prime time.

But to defend the media for excerpting only the american skaters and their tough competitors is not what a true figure skating fan is all about. We want to see it all just as much as the NBA fans expect that if necessary the game will go into overtime and ABC will continue showing the game until the end. And the NBA fans will see it LIVE. Fans of figure skating have to wait until the tapes are edited for prime time viewing and the viewing can be a week or more later.

Torino is 6 hours, I believe, from NYC. To show the entire discipline on cable starting at 8 pm Torino time would give Newyorker fans a chance to see it all at 2am - 6am.Texas and California would have to adjust. This live showing could be taped for the sleepy heads and watched first thing in the morning. Since there are only 4 disciplines it would take only 4 mornings. I think the informercials could take a break from those 4 days.

This will not interfere with the NBC prime time showing of the excerpted contests in figure skating (a big rating for NBC), bobsled, ski jump, luge, speed skating, downhill and slalom races, and that race with the rifles.

Further it will not interfere with golf and tennis. Two other sports for singles.

Your defence of the media, for me, is one coming from a non-fan and should be considered irrelevant, but you have a right to defend the media.

Joe
 
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antmanb

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 5, 2004
Joesitz said:
Torino is 6 hours, I believe, from NYC. To show the entire discipline on cable starting at 8 pm Torino time would give Newyorker fans a chance to see it all at 2am - 6am.Texas and California would have to adjust. This live showing could be taped for the sleepy heads and watched first thing in the morning. Since there are only 4 disciplines it would take only 4 mornings. I think the informercials could take a break from those 4 days.

Just to chime in that that while there are only four disciplines there would be SPs and LPs for three of them and CD, OD and FD for dance so it would be more like 9 mornings but the point still stands. Does anyone know if any of the SPs or CD and OD would be in the afternoon as opposed to the evening?

Ant
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Red Dog does have a point, though. This is the Winter Olympic Games, not the World Figure Skating Championship. I'm sure that enthusiastic fans of other sports would like to see all the time trials, preliminary heats, etc., for their sports, too.

The TV folks have to go with whatever brings the highest ratings. Luckily for us, that's figure skating, so we get a lot of coverage of our sport, compared to hot dog ski jumping and, yeah, that cross-country skiing/rifle shooting biathalon thing.:rock:

Mathman
 

emma

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 28, 2004
Mathman said:
Red Dog does have a point, though. This is the Winter Olympic Games, not the World Figure Skating Championship. I'm sure that enthusiastic fans of other sports would like to see all the time trials, preliminary heats, etc., for their sports, too.

The TV folks have to go with whatever brings the highest ratings. Luckily for us, that's figure skating, so we get a lot of coverage of our sport, compared to hot dog ski jumping and, yeah, that cross-country skiing/rifle shooting biathalon thing.:rock:

Mathman

I totally hear what you are saying...and there are so many events that only get the highlights covered that it must be really disappointing to those fans. I just want to have access to coverage of the entire skating competition...HOW is another question; while I would buy tapes, not everyone can afford that (nor can everyone afford cable)...and since the airwaves are supposed to be public, it does raise a question of how to serve the public. That's, of course, a different topic. In the meantime, I WOULD buy tapes of the entire competition..so if that opportunity presents, I do hope someone would inform us. :)
 

nymkfan51

Medalist
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
I understand that there are other sports, etc. to think of ... but it's all about ratings, and figure skating is one of the gems of the winter games. Plus, I'm not asking them to push something else off the air during the day or in primetime. I guarantee there is plenty of wasted air time through the night, where they could pick up lots of viewers if some additional skating were aired.
 

Doggygirl

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 18, 2003
There are also sites like http://fsvids.9.forumer.com/ where people who get Eurosport (or other broader coverage) post videos of a much broader array of skaters than we see on US TV. The video quality isn't as good through the net than it is on TV, but it's WAY WAY better than not seeing them at all.

DG
 

R.D.

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Joesitz said:
Red Dog - You are not a figure skating fan per se by your own admission. Your sole interest is in the Ladies and in particular, Cohen. Nothing wrong with that and your are lucky because that's exactly what you will get on NBC in prime time.

It's not fair to say I'm only interested in one skater here. It's mainly the top skaters in the ladies (in which there are about 10 of them).

But to defend the media for excerpting only the american skaters and their tough competitors is not what a true figure skating fan is all about. We want to see it all just as much as the NBA fans expect that if necessary the game will go into overtime and ABC will continue showing the game until the end. And the NBA fans will see it LIVE. Fans of figure skating have to wait until the tapes are edited for prime time viewing and the viewing can be a week or more later.

I have to go with Mathman here and say you are comparing a broad event with MANY sports to a single sport. Of course, the network has to show the entire NBA game. It's the NBA GAME that's being broadcast here. But you talk about showing extended figure skating coverage during the OLYMPICS. F. S. may be one of the top sports, but it's not the only sport.

I can take your argument and apply it to, say, coverage of the World Figure Skating Championships, since the product there is figure skating, and not the Olympics.

For me, it certainly would be nice to see more skaters...during the World Championships, that is.

Torino is 6 hours, I believe, from NYC. To show the entire discipline on cable starting at 8 pm Torino time would give Newyorker fans a chance to see it all at 2am - 6am.Texas and California would have to adjust. This live showing could be taped for the sleepy heads and watched first thing in the morning. Since there are only 4 disciplines it would take only 4 mornings. I think the informercials could take a break from those 4 days.

It's possible, but then again, I wonder how many fans would watch such coverage. In other words, is it worth it? I'd figure they'd have to find a way to make it work for THEM as well.
 
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