Skating on U.S. TV: Becoming harder and harder to find. The sport is far from dead - but Network Television’s presentation of skating is expiring!
Phil Hersh may have overstated any woes that U.S. Figure Skating might currently be experiencing in his latest editorial column (
U.S. woes cloud skating picture). He is on the mark however when it comes to describing the troubles that the ISU and U.S. Figure Skating will experience in getting their competitions exposure on the big three over-the-air networks.
Is the possibility of no skating being presented by the big three (CBS - NBC - ABC (and ABC's Cable outlets ESPN and ESPN2) in the upcoming new competitive seasons of 2007 and 2008, real and probable? Chances are very high the answer is yes! Why? The answer of course has several components.
Like most anything popular on Network TV, first there is a catalyst to spark fan interest. In this case it was the knee "whack heard round the skating world" perpetrated against Nancy Kerrigan. That controversy set the sport of figure skating ablaze in the U.S. and coincided with the burst into stardom of Michelle Kwan, who shortly thereafter began winning, and winning and winning for the U.S. This fueled the spark into an explosion of all things skating on the networks. Pro Skating exploded as well, offering many non-ISU competitions, along with skating tours Stars on Ice, and Champions on Ice. Over the next decade there were hundreds of skating events and money flowed like tap water.
During this same period the internet was just beginning to bud and grow. So did Cable TV and with this growth, more and more niche channels came into existence offering viewers many specialized choices. This continued and has today helped to fragment the television market once dominated by the big three networks. Fewer and fewer viewers are watching the established networks, regardless of the fare offered. The biggest result of this has been on the advertising revenue share of the television pie. These shares are getting smaller and smaller.
Way too many skating specials (from promoters copying one another's efforts) and big bucks paid to the ISU and U.S. Figure Skating for telecast rights for their competitive events made big money for the networks, promoters, advertisers and skating entities alike. But the skating ship began sinking following the 2002 Winter Olympics.
Crooked judging was the pin that burst the balloon. The new computerized scoring system (with its good and bad elements) that the average viewer seems unable or unwilling to understand and accept began the viewer desertion. The networks meanwhile have never treated figure skating as a sport, presenting competitions as a show instead, with lots of fluffy features on everything but what is taking place on the ice. Network suits have never viewed figure skating as a legitimate sport and never will. Men in sequined costumes, pairs in outlandish outfits seemed to them about as far from a serious sport as one could get. No wonder we got the product we have seen! Only in the past year has ESPN made a concerted effort to present skating competitions seriously, with some semblance of an effort to explain the sport and the new scoring.
One hopes it was not too little, too late; but fact is - Networks will never again pay skating promoters, the ISU or U.S. Figure Skating double digit millions of dollars for long term telecast rights. With this backdrop of knowledge then, what the hell was intelligent about the threat that recently came from the mouth of ISU's president Ottavio Cinquanta. In essance what he attempted was a threat to punish America's skating governing body with the removal of the already scheduled 2009 World Championships from Los Angeles if a U.S. Television network does not sign a new rights deal.
Then yesterday came the announcement from U.S. Figure Skating, following a meeting between Cinquanta and USFS president Ron Hershberger and executive director David Raith that seemingly reaffirmed the selection of Los Angeles. Read the following and then try to tell me how the statement addresses the threat and resolves the situation without any lingering doubts?
"The allotment of the championships to be held in Los Angeles demonstrates the acknowledgment by the ISU of the great contribution by the U.S. skaters and movement to the development of the sport of figure skating," the ISU said.
What in that statement has any clarity to the issue raised by Cinquanta? It is total crap, a deliberate disguise of his threat that reasons (wrongly) it will bring ESPN or any other network running to him with pen in hand. What a fool! His continued ISU leadership is an even bigger problem for the sport of figure skating.
Here's a real fact Mr. Cinquanta. The era of big TV revenue profits for the ISU and other skating entities is DEAD! The USFS recognizes this, to the great credit of President Hershberger and Mr. Raith and they have begun the move to present their product on the internet via the Ice Network.com. It's time for the ISU to follow suit!
:agree: 
