British and Irish Figure skating 2022-2023

[La Rhumba]

I think it will be Egna as well. I have noticed, Neset/Markelov and K/K from Cyprus must also be assigned there... that would be one packed event!

In case it hasn't been posted, I spotted that Anything GOEs posted an interview with Phebe and James last week.

https://mobile.twitter.com/AnythingGOE/status/1566150696378007552

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OMG! Penny had a baby 2, now 3 months ago? Congratulations! Does anyone know if boy or girl?

 

[La Rhumba]

I genuinely do not believe this will be an empty event. There are next to no tickets left and they went onsale an hour ago. I guess some people still have a lot of spending power!

Skating in the UK amongst fans has definitely become more middle class, University educated compared to the past when we were more working class. The skaters too.

 

[La Rhumba]

It certainly is expensive - and the venue itself isn't at all fancy. The IDF tickets in 2018 were about 25 euros a day - so a fraction of the cost of the Sheffield tickets.

I've bought tickets, but can only (barely) justify it as I don't have travel or accommodation costs. I only hope that they can fill the seats - some subsidised tickets would have been a great opportunity to get some new skating enthusiasts on board.

It's the Britannia Cup here (in Sheffield) at the same venue on Friday/Saturday/Sunday - tickets have only just been released, and there's no promotion of the event at all at the venue.....despite many of the competitors skating and coaching here.

If BIS doesn't start holding events in London when the new Lee Valley Twin Pad opens, eg a JGP suitable for the sadly reduced number of seats compared to the original plans, and also rotate the BritishChampionships around the UK as it used to be then it simply isn't fair and they're not doing their jobs.
We are finally having success again in Skating! Yet apart from Olympics and a highlights programme for Worlds, its not seen on terrestrial TV. Shameful! The Skaters, never mind fans, are sick of going to Sheffield. For recent fans just check out videos from the past where the crowds were packed in venues like Basingstoke. Every year all we see in Sheffield all we see is empty seats, and the Hotel prices for such a venue are totally overpriced. None of this helps to attract new fans to the sport, or older fans to return.

 

[La Rhumba]

Is the ISU website down?

I keep getting an error message whenever I try to log on, it's never happened before, unless they've been hacked?



Anyway, was trying to check the schedule for the comp in Hungary this weekend as Lucy Hancock is competing with partner Ilias Fourati. They have outskated the Hungarian No.1s this season and deserve to go to Europeans but....Judges.

 

[La Rhumba]

ISU site back up and running now....

3 Competitions to watch this week!!!!!!!!

 

[WednesdayMarch]

If BIS doesn't start holding events in London when the new Lee Valley Twin Pad opens, eg a JGP suitable for the sadly reduced number of seats compared to the original plans, and also rotate the BritishChampionships around the UK as it used to be then it simply isn't fair and they're not doing their jobs.
We are finally having success again in Skating! Yet apart from Olympics and a highlights programme for Worlds, its not seen on terrestrial TV. Shameful! The Skaters, never mind fans, are sick of going to Sheffield. For recent fans just check out videos from the past where the crowds were packed in venues like Basingstoke. Every year all we see in Sheffield all we see is empty seats, and the Hotel prices for such a venue are totally overpriced. None of this helps to attract new fans to the sport, or older fans to return.

Since when have BIS cared about actually doing their job?

In other (bad) news, Plymouth Ice Rink announced its closure "in the New Year", which apparently means that from 1st January 2023, there will be no ice rink in Plymouth. Despite the utter git who bought the rink site for £1 having been supposed to build a replacement, which has obviously never materialised. Or, as the Westcountry news just said, "Plans were shelved during lockdown..."

 

[pesto]

Euros 2026. Sheffield, where else?

https://twitter.com/BritishIceSkate/status/1580259338287218688

 

[Ruthypegs]

Euros 2026. Sheffield, where else?

https://twitter.com/BritishIceSkate/status/1580259338287218688

Worlds in Prague in 2026, Olympics in Milan - so a great year for us Europeans - (not so great for everyone else....)

 

[La Rhumba]

Worlds in Prague in 2026, Olympics in Milan - so a great year for us Europeans - (not so great for everyone else....)

Badly mismanaged by the ISU. Great for us, and we were due an Olympics in Europe, but usually they would have a Worlds that season in North America or Japan.

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Somebody just sent a question in to Ted and Mark about the ISU commentary for the Senior GP's.

Mark said he is doing 4 of them. He didn't say which, but did say that he will be on site for Sheffield. Obviously, training for "Dancing On Ice" means that he won't be able to go on site for the overseas competitions.

Ted said he is commentating on the NHK Trophy from home, and he thinks Chris Howarth is doing the remaining GP (but, again, he didn't say which).

I hope Chris commentating for the ISU doesn't mean we won't be getting him and Louise Walden on British Eurosport. After initially not liking Louise, I grew to really like them commentating together by the end of Worlds. And I was really looking forward to watching the Senior GP's in their company.

Still hard to believe that this will be the last season of figure skating on British Eurosport. It's the end of an era.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[La Rhumba]

It's Official! Congratulations to Phebe & James for qualifying for the JGP Final, in only her 2nd season competing internationally, a wonderful achievement. They qualify in 5th place.

https://results.isu.org/events/jgp2022/jgpsdance.htm?dm_i=731E,AOCF,KEWVM,1AE5Y,1

Ashlie & Atl finished 28th of the 59 icedance couples taking part in the JGP. An amazing, unforgettable debut!

❤

 

[ladyjane]

Yay Phebe & James!

 

[La Rhumba]

Yay Phebe & James!

And Phebe visited the Netherlands this past Summer to see her relatives on her Father's side of the family. Half Dutch.

 

[litenkyckling]

Somebody just sent a question in to Ted and Mark about the ISU commentary for the Senior GP's.

Mark said he is doing 4 of them. He didn't say which, but did say that he will be on site for Sheffield. Obviously, training for "Dancing On Ice" means that he won't be able to go on site for the overseas competitions.

Ted said he is commentating on the NHK Trophy from home, and he thinks Chris Howarth is doing the remaining GP (but, again, he didn't say which).

I hope Chris commentating for the ISU doesn't mean we won't be getting him and Louise Walden on British Eurosport. After initially not liking Louise, I grew to really like them commentating together by the end of Worlds. And I was really looking forward to watching the Senior GP's in their company.

Still hard to believe that this will be the last season of figure skating on British Eurosport. It's the end of an era.

CaroLiza_fan

I didn't realise this - did they say what the arrangement was going forward when they announced it?

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

I didn't realise this - did they say what the arrangement was going forward when they announced it?

British Eurosport haven't actually said anything yet about losing the figure skating rights. But, with everything involved in getting the joint venture with BT Sport completed, I suppose the management have had other things on their minds.

All we know is that Viaplay have announced that they have acquired the exclusive UK rights to ISU figure skating competitions from the start of next season until the end of the 2027-28 Season.

You can find links to various sources in the following post that I put up in last season's British & Irish thread when it was announced:

https://www.goldenskate.com/forum/posts/2964909

And a follow-up post about the huge cost of Viaplay elsewhere:

https://www.goldenskate.com/forum/posts/2964957

Since then, there have been further developments. After winning a pile of rights that were previously held by Premier Sports, Viaplay have now bought Premier Sports (for more, see the bottom section of this post from earlier in this thread). And they plan to overhaul Premier's linear channels so that they don't just show sport, but also show films and entertainment programmes from Viaplay's back-catalogue.

So, with all this, I can't see there being room for hours on end of LIVE figure skating coverage on the linear channels. The sport just isn't popular enough to get the space. I suspect the skating will end up just being on their streaming service (just like is happening with Skate America on Eurosport this week).

Personally, if using a VPN to watch the ISU YouTube channel still works, that's what I will be doing. Because I can't justify paying for Viaplay just to watch 11 figure skating competitions that are available for free with a VPN.

There is still no word yet of when the British Isles version of Viaplay is launching. It was supposed to be in the second half of 2022, but with just 2 and a bit months left of 2022 things have gone quiet. Mind you, Viaplay may have been waiting until the competition people approved the purchase of Premier before they set a definite date for the launch. And the Irish government only gave their approval yesterday.

It would be logical for Viaplay to hire Chris and Louise to do commentary for their figure skating coverage. They have the experience, and they seem to be popular. But, I actually hope that the ISU take them on. Because I don't like this chopping and changing of commentators that we have had since the ISU started doing their own broadcasts of the Senior competitions. And which has been happening this season with the Junior GP's. We need continuity. We need commentators that have actually watched every competition, and so know who is in form and who isn't. And all too often, that hasn't been the case.

It'll be interesting to see how it all plays out.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

There is still no word yet of when the British Isles version of Viaplay is launching. It was supposed to be in the second half of 2022, but with just 2 and a bit months left of 2022 things have gone quiet. Mind you, Viaplay may have been waiting until the competition people approved the purchase of Premier before they set a definite date for the launch. And the Irish government only gave their approval yesterday.

It turns out I was right - Viaplay was indeed waiting for the Irish government approval. Barely 2 hours after I wrote that post, the announcement was made!

https://www.viaplaygroup.com/news/news-releases/viaplay-launch-uk-1-november

Viaplay is launching on 1st November. There will be 2 packages:

• Films & Series Package (i.e. no sports), at £3.99 per month.
• Total Package (i.e. the above plus sports), at £14.99 per month.

Not as bad as I was expecting, given that they are charging £30 a month in Norway for the equivalent package, Viaplay Medium (over there, they have three tiers rather than two. Their Total Package is for adding in Premier League football, and costs £55 a month! ). But when you take into account that there's also the Sky subscription and whatever the combined Eurosport / BT Sport subscription turns out to be, £15 a month for just 11 figure skating competitions is still a lot to be paying on top of that.

Premier Sports 1 & 2 will be rebranded as Viaplay Sports 1 & 2, while Freesports will become Viaplay Xtra. Despite the names, the announcement says that the films and series content will appear on all of the Premier channels. It does not make clear whether Viaplay Xtra will stay free, but my guess is that it won't, instead becoming part of the £3.99 package.

So, things are starting to become clearer. I suppose we will start to find out more details about their plans for individual sports nearer the time.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[La Rhumba]

It turns out I was right - Viaplay 87was indeed waiting for the Irish government approval. Barely 2 hours after I wrote that post, the announcement was made!

https://www.viaplaygroup.com/news/news-releases/viaplay-launch-uk-1-november

Viaplay is launching on 1st November. There will be 2 packages:

• Films & Series Package (i.e. no sports), at £3.99 per month.
• Total Package (i.e. the above plus sports), at £14.99 per month.

Not as bad as I was expecting, given that they are charging £30 a month in Norway for the equivalent package, Viaplay Medium (over there, they have three tiers rather than two. Their Total Package is for adding in Premier League football, and costs £55 a month! ). But when you take into account that there's also the Sky subscription and whatever the combined Eurosport / BT Sport subscription turns out to be, £15 a month for just 11 figure skating competitions is still a lot to be paying on top of that.

Premier Sports 1 & 2 will be rebranded as Viaplay Sports 1 & 2, while Freesports will become Viaplay Xtra. Despite the names, the announcement says that the films and series content will appear on all of the Premier channels. It does not make clear whether Viaplay Xtra will stay free, but my guess is that it won't, instead becoming part of the £3.99 package.

So, things are starting to become clearer. I suppose we will start to find out more details about their plans for individual sports nearer the time.

CaroLiza_fan

Thank you for all the info and updates @CaroLiza_fan

As a loooongtime subscriber to Eurosport Player I have received no email, nothing informing me of this news. I agree it's a high price to pay to watch Skating, if it's viewable via VPN. TBH I think the ISU are hurting diehard fans to geoblock the Viaplay regions as some fans can't afford it with a cost of living crisis in the UK, and 1M subscribers leaving Netflix, Disney, etc.
The worst part is Viaplay will patrol YouTube putting in copyright claims of any videos uploaded, so not only will many fans be geoblocked by ISU, priced out by Viaplay, then can't find the videos on YouTube because they've been removed for copyright. Way to go to attract new fans and create access to Figure Skating!

 

[litenkyckling]

I’m fortunately in a position where my partner wants to get viaplay for all of the football that they’ll be showing so I’ll definitely be getting it.

I’ve paid for discovery plus this month to access the Eurosport coverage but I can’t wait to cancel as all the added extras with it are all shows I will never watch. I’ve also found it not easy to use on a smart tv which is annoying!

 

[WednesdayMarch]

I’m fortunately in a position where my partner wants to get viaplay for all of the football that they’ll be showing so I’ll definitely be getting it.

I’ve paid for discovery plus this month to access the Eurosport coverage but I can’t wait to cancel as all the added extras with it are all shows I will never watch. I’ve also found it not easy to use on a smart tv which is annoying!

I paid for Discovery to watch (I think) the Winter Olympics but found it juddery and unwatchable unless actually live. I did, however, discover a whole world of fascinating programmes about surgery with which to amuse myself and horrify my husband!

 

[DSQ]

My Discovery subscription runs out next weekend so I’ll probably move to a monthly contract if possible until we know more. At £60 a year it was useful during the Olympics but only myself and my sisters boyfriend really used it.

I’m happy for Phebe and James and I fully expect them to be in a serious fight for the bronze in the final!