Where to Watch Skate Canada

[elbkup]

Hi YagsFan - I'm happy to help!

The cost
You have to have Peacock Premium (not the free version) to watch figure skating.. It's $4.99 / month. You put in on a credit card and are billed monthly so you can cancel at any time. There's also a commercial-free version, which is $9.99 / month, but the skating broadcasts don't normally have commercials anyway.

What skating you can watch
You are right that after Skate America, NBC (or NBC Sports or whatever version shows it on TV) typically just shows a few hours (maybe 2?) of the different GPs. Peacock shows the full event - all the skaters, both SPs and FSs/FDs.

If you like commentary, unfortunately they don't usually have any. It's probably better than annoying commentary, but sometimes it would be nice to have. Typically they have commentary with Skate America (although they didn't this year), Nationals, and I think Worlds. I can't remember about 4CCs. This year for Worlds we had Mark Hanretty, which really surprised me because he's a British Eurosport commentator, and he was excellent!

You can't rewind during the live broadcast, but you can rewind and fast forward (sort of - by moving the "dot" at the bottom) when you watch the archived broadcast. Broadcasts seem to be available for at least a few months.

These are the events that will be on Peacock this season:
US Championship Series
Skate America
Skate Canada
GP Italy
NHK Trophy
Internationaux de France
Rostelecom Cup
GPF
US Nationals
Europeans
Four Continents
Worlds

Note it doesn't list the Olympics.

Devices you can watch on
I always watch on my PC; my husband uses his PC or his phone so I wasn't sure about TV. I went into my settings where they have questions/answers and found this info:

Peacock is available across a variety of devices.

Web Browsers:
Chrome 75+ (Windows/Mac)
Firefox 88+ (Windows/Mac)
MS Edge 80+ (Windows/Mac)
Safari 12+ (Mac)

Mobile and Tablet Devices:
Android: 6.0 or above
iOS: 12 or above

Connected TVs, Game Consoles and Streaming Devices:

Amazon: Peacock is supported on Fire TV and Fire Tablet devices with Fire OS 5 and above.

Android TV: Peacock is supported on a wide variety of Android TV-enabled Smart TVs, such as Sony Bravia, and set-top boxes, including NVIDIA Shield, running Android OS 5.1 and above.

Apple TV: Apple TV HD (4th Generation or above) with tvOS 13 or above

Chromecast: 1st Generation or above, including Chromecast with Google TV

LG Smart TV: LG WebOS 3.5 or above

PlayStation:
PlayStation 4
PlayStation 5

Roku:
Roku 2 (4210X model only)
Roku 3 & 4 (model 4200X or later)
Roku Streaming Stick (model 3600X or later)
Roku Express/Express+ (model 3900X or later)
Roku Premiere/Premiere+ (model 3920X or later)
Roku Ultra/Ultra LT (model 4640X or later)
Roku TV and Smart Soundbar (model 5000X or later)

Samsung Smart TV: Peacock is supported on models from 2017 or later. If you’re unsure, you can check your model number and year here.

Vizio TV: SmartCast 2.0 or 3.0 (from 2016 and newer)

Xbox:
Xbox One
Xbox Series X
Xbox Series S

Cable Provider Set Top Boxes:
Cox:
Contour Box with Voice Remote
Contour Stream Player

Xfinity:
XG1v1 (Arris)
XG1v3
XG1v4
XG2v2
XiD
Xi3
Xi5
Xi6
Flex

I hope this is helpful! Please let me know if you have any other questions. I'll be glad to try to answer them if I can.

 

[Weathergal]

Folks in the US, you have been blessed!
How to watch

• ISU Youtube Stream
  • Here is a list of broadcasters for this event. If you are not in a location with a broadcast, you should be able to access the entire event on the ISU's Youtube page. Some countries with broadcasts also have streams available on Youtube
  • I've confirmed the following countries have an unblocked stream: France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Turkey, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Germany, Japan, Norway, Poland, Morocco, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, and... for this event only... THE UNITED STATES! (these could change later on, so don't get too comfortable! See the list of broadcasters for more info)
  • The following countries are blocked: Great Britain, Italy, Russia, China (See the list of broadcasters for more info)
  • If you are in a location that is blocked and want to watch the ISU Youtube stream, you will need a VPN that is set to a location that is unblocked
    • For a paying VPN, NordVPN, ExpressVPN, and Surfshark are very popular
    • For free VPNs with useful locations, I would recommend Windscribe (Canadian), which does have a data limit (10GBs should be enough to stream this event, though) but has plenty of locations available for free and is very safe, or ProtonVPN (Switzerland based) which is again very safe and has unlimited data but only three locations (US, Japan, Netherlands).
    • You can also use the free Opera browser, with a built-in VPN option. Set the VPN location to Asia (the server is in India) and you should be able to watch the stream *Opera is owned by a group of Chinese investors if you're concerned about your information*
• Local broadcasts (click here for full list)
  • Eurosport is a bit of a disaster currently, so good luck! Check out the Eurosport Player or your local television listings for a possible stream and pray. Links for the figure skating pages at Eurosport Spain, France, and the UK
  • NBC will air a recap of the events on Sunday from 16-18:00 EST (3-6 pm). Alternative livestreams for NBC (1)
  • Peacock will livestream all events with no commentary. Available only for Premium members and only in the US
  • CBC will be livestreaming some of the events on the CBC player. (Geoblocked outside of Canada, not all of the events will be shown)
  • TV Asahi will broadcast the events for a fee for people in Japan
  • Channel 1 will be streaming in Russia on Youtube and their website (geoblocked)
  • Tencent is streaming the event in China (geoblocked)
• Not-quite-legal streams
  • If all else fails, or you are an extreme cheapskate who refuses to use even the free options above, here are some not-quite-legal streams (do not use if other options are available, please support skating!)
    • Live QQ man might stream here
    • Check this VK account for a possible livestream
    • Check on VK, Weibo, or other Russian/Chinese media sites for a possible livestream (links will probably pop up on social media or Goldenskate, and if I see one, I'll add it here. If a site looks suspicious or makes you put in an email address, it is likely a scam, so do not use)

This is great info - thank you! Although I normally watch skating on Peacock or YouTube, depending on the competition, it is always good to have alternatives. And it's nice if you find out a particular commentator you like will be on a broadcast, and you want to watch it instead.

Two competitions I often have trouble watching (in US) are Japanese Nationals and Canadian Nationals, although I was able to watch Canadian Nationals last season. So if you ever have info on how to watch those, please post in those threads.

 

[SaDa]

So does anyone, at this point, have any idea yet if Peacock will be showing the live practices too?

 

[figureskatingandrainbows]

So does anyone, at this point, have any idea yet if Peacock will be showing the live practices too?

I doubt it, I think SkAm was shown just because it was in the US. However, Nick McCarvel, Jackie Wong, and Phil Hersh will probably have media access to the practice streams and will possibly livetweet out what happens, and clips will pop up on the internet from Russian and Japanese television.

So if you ever have info on how to watch those, please post in those threads.

Will do!

 

[SaDa]

I doubt it, I think SkAm was shown just because it was in the US. However, Nick McCarvel, Jackie Wong, and Phil Hersh will probably have media access to the practice streams and will possibly livetweet out what happens, and clips will pop up on the internet from Russian and Japanese television.

Ah, bummer, okay.
Thank you for responding. Appreciate it a ton

 

[saturdaysun]

In 2019 there were live practice cams available on multiple days, Ted was even commentating. Sucks there won't be any this year.

 

[Mauvedreamer]

Why is the ISU stream blocked for Skate Canada in the UK, it wasn't for Skate America!! Gutted !!

 

[Tonichelle]

I'll be watching via Peacock... when I can. I'm still working on getting my new house in order so I can move in.

 

[Rudel-chw]

Why is the ISU stream blocked for Skate Canada in the UK

It is also blocked on my country:

... but installed the free ProtonVPN and then I can access the stream like if I were at the US:

 

[Totentanz]

Why is the ISU stream blocked for Skate Canada in the UK, it wasn't for Skate America!! Gutted !!

I share your sadness. Looks like we won't have access to ISU youtube stream in Turkey

 

[MalAssada]

I'm joining the pity party. No free ISU stream for frigging Brazil. C'mon, last Olympics I was angry tweeting the correct pronounciation of Medvedeva and Zagitova, are you really telling me they bought the rights for a GP?

 

[LKGwennire]

I'm joining the pity party. No free ISU stream for frigging Brazil. C'mon, last Olympics I was angry tweeting the correct pronounciation of Medvedeva and Zagitova, are you really telling me they bought the rights for a GP?

No one has bought the rights as far as I know... Also, during this olympic cycle, while SporTV did show some skating competitions, they weren't exclusive rights, so everyone was free to watch the ISU channel instead of their coverage (which is great since their commentary is...lacking, to be polite).
But the ISU has made a post about who has bought rights and who hasn't and no country in South America has rights to GP coverage. So it's likely just a bug.

Where to Watch ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series 2021/22 - International Skating Union

Viewers will be able to watch the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series either via their national broadcaster / channel or via the Skating ISU YouTube Channel for countries where there is no broadcaster agreement in place.

isu.org

ETA: Some people are mentioning on Twitter Skate Canada will air the GP through their Dailymotion channel... Which seems weird but it won't hurt to check I guess since it seems to be unavailable on Youtube anyway

 

[Jontor]

Why is the ISU stream blocked for Skate Canada in the UK, it wasn't for Skate America!! Gutted !!

All I can say is - VPN
aka Very Powerful Necessity

 

[Alex D]

You probably know that, but you can watch the GP series on the Eurosport player.

 

[Mauvedreamer]

You probably know that, but you can watch the GP series on the Eurosport player.

Yes but I was wondering if it was now part of Discovery plus on sky in the UK.

 

[lariko]

Argh, YouTube seems to be blocked in Canada, so CBC it is, hopefully they have archives. For some reason no rhythm dance in live stream atm on it. Or they just called it Free Dance, judging by time of the event.

https://www.cbc.ca/player/sports

 

[GoneWithTheWind]

Argh, YouTube seems to be blocked in Canada, so CBC it is, hopefully they have archives. For some reason no rhythm dance in live stream atm on it. Or they just called it Free Dance, judging by time of the event.

https://www.cbc.ca/player/sports

YouTube now seems to be unblocked in Canada (from my VPN anyway). There's something very odd going on with the streams, one minute they're available in places, then half of them vanish, then they're blocked and then they're back again! Hopefully all will be resolved before the competition starts!

 

[lariko]

YouTube now seems to be unblocked in Canada (from my VPN anyway). There's something very odd going on with the streams, one minute they're available in places, then half of them vanish, then they're blocked and then they're back again! Hopefully all will be resolved before the competition starts!

You are right, it is unblocked now. Yay! Hopefully, they don’t change their minds again!

 

[figureskatingandrainbows]

The US is now blocked. So, for all of the United Sates folks out there... bust out Peacock or a VPN!

 

[GoneWithTheWind]

You are right, it is unblocked now. Yay! Hopefully, they don’t change their minds again!

Fingers crossed! I can't watch all of it live, due to the time difference, so I will be so sad if the streams vanish before I can catch-up on the RD tomorrow!