The Figure Skating War on Youtube

[surimi]

Guys, it's here. Start saving your favorites' videos on your computers as soon as you see them online, as they may be gone before you blink. I'm back from trying to update links in one fanfest, and the new loss of Youtube videos was absolutely staggering. A number of YT vids I watched a month ago, gone, uploaders' accounts banned. Old stuff too, like 2014 JGP... dunno what to say. this is madness. ISU better do something about it soon, and do it for FS fans for free; else the number of new fans is going to nosedive.

 

[NaVi]

I searched for Gubanova's performance at the Golden Spin of Zagreb. The only search result pointed to a channel that had been deleted. I had to search in russian for it. It's actually pretty common where I have to search in russian for figure skating videos and it's kind of frustrating. And the biggest frustration is knowing that somewhere in all the deleted channels there is some historical videos probably being lost that aren't uploaded anywhere else. I like to watch different performances with different announcers and that's become more difficult.

 

[surimi]

Videos get deleted no matter what language you search in. I always search for my favourite's vids using kanji, and yet some are gone.

 

[GGFan]

I guess the videos from Worlds are disappearing now. The B.ESP version as well as the Spanish channel version of Sui/Han's free have both been deleted due to NBC copyright claims. So unnecessary. :ddevil:

 

[padme21]

So many videos are disappearing. I can't even find Yuzuru Hanyu videos that have been on YouTube for years. If I didn't have NBC Gold I don't know what I'd do when it comes to rewatching full events. I couldn't find Vincent Zhou's 4CC FS on YouTube any more. Overall I think this move if deleting videos will hurt the figure skating community.

 

[rain]

I just don't understand this crusade with taking down the videos. This is how you will help to build the sport — by, you know, letting people see it! It's beyond ridiculous. It would be totally different if this content was available for purchase somewhere, but it isn't. When an event is over, even if you've paid to be able to watch it, you often can't go back and re-watch, and there's certainly not the breadth of material that was available on YouTube. All you can find, at best, is the competition from, say, a couple of weeks ago. Looking for 3 years ago, or last year? Out of luck.

The crazy thing is that I, and I'd be willing to bet a lot of other skating fans, would be willing to shell out some cash to be able to download and amass a collection of our favourite programs, like iTunes for skating, if you will.

Just making the content completely unavailable discourages people from finding and getting into the sport. Whoever is making these decisions needs a reality check.

 

[NaVi]

It just took me forever to find Alysa Liu's FS... embedded and hosted on a website for a russian newspaper.

And just out of curiosity and knowing Gutsufan was shut down, I tried searching for Medvedeva's and Serafima's performances at the JGPF in 2014 because I remember that channel being my goto source for those videos because the spanish announcer(event though I can't understand it) really added to the moment... and now there's only one of each version with either no commentary or in russian and they were kind of hard to find.

Thankful(and I do thank the ISU) they put the JGPF events on youtube after that year. But one year Eurosport carried it and I can't find the videos now for Eurosports commentary of Gubanova's freeskate.

 

[surimi]

This is how you will help to build the sport — by, you know, letting people see it! It's beyond ridiculous. It would be totally different if this content was available for purchase somewhere, but it isn't. [...] Just making the content completely unavailable discourages people from finding and getting into the sport.

I agree it would be cool if there was an option to pay for a worldwide source that offers events without commercials and cuts, both live and archived.
But as for individual videos, I do believe the only option is passing a regulation that would make them freely available after they've been aired. First you need to entice people to become fans. And who would pay for something they aren't a fan of yet? A paid skating channel would be for existing fans only, and doesn't address the problem of recruiting new ones from among the public.
I believe treating YT sport videos using the same approach as when people upload movies or series, is a fundamental mistake.

 

[anonymoose_au]

It's worrying how many videos are been taken down. I can't even save any right now because I'm out of broadband data!

YouTube is my go-to place for Plushy videos from long ago, if they disappeared, I'd probably cry for real!

 

[rain]

I agree it would be cool if there was an option to pay for a worldwide source that offers events without commercials and cuts, both live and archived.
But as for individual videos, I do believe the only option is passing a regulation that would make them freely available after they've been aired. First you need to entice people to become fans. And who would pay for something they aren't a fan of yet? A paid skating channel would be for existing fans only, and doesn't address the problem of recruiting new ones from among the public.
I believe treating YT sport videos using the same approach as when people upload movies or series, is a fundamental mistake.

Oh, I'm all for a free option as my first choice. As you say, figure skating needs to attract new fans, and they're not going to do it with the pitifully small amount of coverage available on television, sometimes long, long after an event has actually happened. But at least if there was a paid option the performances would be available somewhere which beats not at all.

 

[charlotte14]

I hate ISU and YouTube license copyrights.

 

[Bcash]

Oh my. Someone mentioned H/B’s sliding mistake and I just went looking for their vids but all gone from YT. Really what the hell are they doing this for? (Of course they don’t care about sustaining popularity if he sport.. I should treat this as given)

 

[Azikin]

Old stuff too, like 2014 JGP...

This is just... :dumb:

 

[Cyt150]

This is just... :dumb:

Me too. Really. Sigh!!

 

[Lunalovesskating]

I am so sad I cannot rewatch some of my favorite performances anymore as Eurosportplayer does not save old competitions from the last years Youtube was always my source for that
Guess I have to start recording every competition now if I ever want to rewatch it.
ISU and the Sport channels are really sabotaging themselves by deleting all those videos.

 

[skatingfan4ever]

It's like we're back where we were in the 1990s (and earlier) before the internet even existed, with everyone having their own personal archive of videos that they've been able to watch and have chosen to save. I never would have dreamed while watching the 1998 Olympics that one day I would be able to watch the 1994 Olympics, the 1988 Olympics, etc, with other countries' commentators to boot, because of something called the Internet. Except that now the medium for saving things is mp4 files instead of VHS tapes. Yes, it is sad, but I remember when all this sharing was not possible in the first place. Somebody had to actually come to your house for you to share your favorite performances with them. Anything we have in terms of online sharing is a blessing. (And yes, I hope that videos stop getting removed. Things were fine for 10 years, so why the change of mind now?)

 

[NaVi]

And just out of curiosity and knowing Gutsufan was shut down, I tried searching for Medvedeva's and Serafima's performances at the JGPF in 2014 because I remember that channel being my goto source for those videos because the spanish announcer(event though I can't understand it) really added to the moment... and now there's only one of each version with either no commentary or in russian and they were kind of hard to find.

Someone(rafapab) actually just PMed me and told me they had this...

TBH, with work I've usually been able to find whatever video I'm looking for... the couple examples I listed above were a little artificial in that while I do care about them I probably haven't looked for them in a year. But with them being down, I wonder what others are missing(I was worried about old junior worlds videos but the ones I care about are all there). And so people should say something and maybe someone will have it.

I foresee somewhat fewer problems in the future as uploaders get more creative and coordinated. At the very least I'd be a good idea for uploaders to have one channel for older content that is unlikely to be flagged.

 

[surimi]

TBH, with work I've usually been able to find whatever video I'm looking for...

Lucky you, I haven't. I took a peek today at my only fanfest which is Keiji's, and the vast majority of non-show, non-Japanese events have been taken down. There are a few lurking around, but most GP, Challengers, Universiade, 4CC, Worlds, are simply gone, and when I search online, not even sites like Dailymotion or bilibili are of much help. I was searching in kanji, too.
Some folks mentioned new video re-uploads by youtubers, but I haven't seen a single one, so I wonder what I am missing.

The cause of the problem seems obvious to me, the powers that be were only thinking of stolen music and movies, not about the implications this is going to have for the rest of the videos. The difference that movies/music are typically available for downloading for a fee, or sold in stores, whereas the sports stuff disappears into the company's archives, never to be used again, seems to escpae them, or they simply don't care.
If there's a petition to change this silly regulation for sports videos, I'd be happy to sign.
I wonder if the ISU will just sit back and do nothing... I wouldn't be surprised.

 

[La Rhumba]

This issue is seriously confusing and needs a solution ASAP for the future of Figure Skating to survive.

My Worlds videos of *only* British skaters from Eurosport Player & BBC coverage were initially blocked in Japan due to Fuji TV copyright claims - I was relieved my account wasn't deleted, I lost my previous YouTube account about 12 years ago over copyright claims, it was heartbreaking - and now NBC Universal have put in copyright claims, so my videos are blocked in America. What have my British coverage videos got to do with America? The irony is, no claims from either BBC or Eurosport.

They want every fan to pay for coverage and become subscribers, which I have done for ES Player. We can't all sign up for every subscription worldwide. Meanwhile the ISU just says nothing, whilst the sport's audience dwindles. To say FS is now a minority sport is an understatement, in most of the world, ofcourse we know it's big in a couple of countries.

 

[Miller]

This issue is seriously confusing and needs a solution ASAP for the future of Figure Skating to survive.

My Worlds videos of *only* British skaters from Eurosport Player & BBC coverage were initially blocked in Japan due to Fuji TV copyright claims - I was relieved my account wasn't deleted, I lost my previous YouTube account about 12 years ago over copyright claims, it was heartbreaking - and now NBC Universal have put in copyright claims, so my videos are blocked in America. What have my British coverage videos got to do with America? The irony is, no claims from either BBC or Eurosport.

They want every fan to pay for coverage and become subscribers, which I have done for ES Player. We can't all sign up for every subscription worldwide. Meanwhile the ISU just says nothing, whilst the sport's audience dwindles. To say FS is now a minority sport is an understatement, in most of the world, ofcourse we know it's big in a couple of countries.

The problem is that your videos are viewable by people in America, or Japan in the case of the Fuji TV claim, and those networks have paid good money for their people to see their content and not some bootleg videos that might reduce the chance of people subscribing to their services.

If your videos were not viewable in USA or Japan or anywhere else the copyright claims were coming from then you might not have the same problem, though of course they could just be scouring the internet for any bootleg videos out there, they are illegal after all, or at least infringing someone's copyright, presumably the ISU's.