Damn them!!!
Leave things the way they are
I don’t think I will pay for the streaming. I guess this will allow me to free up those days for other activities
2025-2026 Canadian Figure Skating
- Thread starter 4everchan
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Leave things the way they are
I don’t think I will pay for the streaming. I guess this will allow me to free up those days for other activities
And they both train in the GTA.LOL so is Alberta for Kaiya
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2015
I am not paying. Summer competitions are traditionally filled with withdrawals and skaters who are not perfectly ready. I am already not cool with paying for streaming of a challenger event so why would I pay for an event skaters are using to build up over the summer months ? Seriously, I doubt many will pay except for close friends and families of skaters who are not able to attend in person. To me, it's a huge mistake. Someone should write to themDamn them!!!
Leave things the way they are
I don’t think I will pay for the streaming. I guess this will allow me to free up those days for other activities
If I'm reading the announcement correctly, currently streaming is paid for by a the skaters through a fee that they pay when they register for an event. If only close friends and family pay for the streaming, the funds are coming from people close to the skater vs the skaters themselves. So it's coming from the same pockets (immediate family of young skaters) or closely related ones.I am not paying. Summer competitions are traditionally filled with withdrawals and skaters who are not perfectly ready. I am already not cool with paying for streaming of a challenger event so why would I pay for an event skaters are using to build up over the summer months ? Seriously, I doubt many will pay except for close friends and families of skaters who are not able to attend in person. To me, it's a huge mistake. Someone should write to them
We'll see whether the new model actually generates as much revenue as the old one. If it is less or the same revenue with more effort, they may go back to the old model.
I can see why people are upset; no one wants to pay for something they are used to getting for free. One the other hand, do you really want the SKATERS to pay so you can watch them?
You can think of paying for the stream as a way of supporting the skaters.
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2012
$40 CAD is not that much for the season but $20 CAD for each "marquee" event is. It looks like the July event will not be streamed at all tho - at least nothing on the website currently. I haven't made up my mind 100% yet. I do enjoy following the young skaters along in their development - I think that is one of my biggest reasons for following figure skating. So I might pay the $40 as a way of donating to figure skating in Ontario. I agree with NanaPat personally but understand the frustration expressed by others. However, if other provinces join the trend and start charging similar amounts, not sure what I will do.
Skate Ontario did have a survey about their plans for paid streaming and I linked it in the last thread. I'm hoping that the platform they're using is not the same as they used for August and October last year, I think those stream archives are still missing.
I don't know how successful they'll be with it. I might pay for it since I like watching the Ontario skaters. The season pass looks to come out to around the same for the three events I'd be paying for individually.
I don't know how successful they'll be with it. I might pay for it since I like watching the Ontario skaters. The season pass looks to come out to around the same for the three events I'd be paying for individually.
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2015
I prefer supporting skaters going to live events... and as that is way costlier, it limits the amount of money I am willing to spend on streaming. Also, if other provinces, like BC, so far, do not charge for their livestreaming, there will be enough skating for free all summer.
I do not wish for young skaters to have to pay more so I get to watch it myself... but I certainly hope that Skate Ontario would encourage their young skaters by covering these costs for all fans around the world to watch and cheer for them.
Let's be honest here... When I am watching these events, most of the times, there are just about 100 viewers online.... sometimes we are like 17. Do you really think that 17 viewers, even 100 would bring enough cash to make it worthwhile ?
I doubt it. To me, this is an ill-thought change to something that was working very well before. We were proud, as Canadians, and the competition threads from previous events would show that, that "all our events were streamed for free, with available archives" ... we were also proud that Skate Canada and provinces had adopted this transparency politic so that skating events were available with live streaming and live scoring from coast to coast...
I am disappointed and when I am disappointed, the last reflex I have is to reach out for my wallet.
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2015
I remember that survey. Sigh. I did answer it and said I wouldn't pay LOL... They should listen to me
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2013
This type of scheme, if I'm understanding it correctly, really rankles. On the one hand, this is not my fight, but on the other hand, it is the fight of anyone with children involved in youth sports.
When I was a golf coach for my son's high school team, our home course charged the team a fee, so of course we had to fundraise for that. In addition, they made each individual obtain a membership at the course - parents had to pay for that themselves. In addition, when we had matches, they charged parents a cart fee that exceeded the cart fee they charged to golfers. Yep, parents had to pay MORE to rent a cart to follow their children than golfers had to pay if they opted to ride during their round. It was just flat-out price gouging. I think the former coach had a close friendship with the course owners, so he never explored other options. But I did, and we switched to another course that supported junior golf to a MUCH greater extent.
Rant over, back on topic: How much does it actually cost to stream? I'm not savvy with "citizen media" but I would think that a volunteer with a smart phone, a tripod, and a Youtube account could probably match the quality of many paid streams.
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2022
If you want to support skaters, you can often do so directly as well.
For example, David Shteyngart has a crowdfunding project, and his mother is organising one for Ksenia Krouzkevitch to support her family after her father's death.
For example, David Shteyngart has a crowdfunding project, and his mother is organising one for Ksenia Krouzkevitch to support her family after her father's death.
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2015
That is sad that such a young skater has lost her father. Very sad.
My thoughts are with Ksenia and her family.
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2015
actually what some folks do is pay for the stream, then upload the videos on their own chain...
much simpler... until your chain gets deletedI wonder about that as well. But be aware that not all volunteers are created equal. During COVID we saw a lot of "virtual" events. I remember one event in the US where "volunteer" camera people were used (each skater supplied their own camera person), with very mixed results. Some of the videos were OK, some were nearly unwatchable for a variety of reasons (failure to zoom, poor panning, etc). Skate Canada used a professional videographer, with much better and more uniform results. Also, I believe the Skate Ontario competitions usually involve multiple streams from multiple rinks for many hours and several days, so a lot of manpower, volunteer or otherwise. (NOTE: I'm trying to think of a gender-neutral synonym for manpower and blanking on it. Anything I can think of doesn't have the right tone. If anyone has a good alternative word or phrase, I'll be happy to change it.
)The announcement doesn't say what the previous fee to the skaters was, just that it was being discontinued. I'm very curious to know what it was.
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2015
Regarding the number of rinks... It's often just two rinks... sometimes, a third rink... but that's mainly when there are STAR skaters. They could stick to only showing junior and senior skaters.... Many fans do not have time to watch pre-novice and novice skaters.I wonder about that as well. But be aware that not all volunteers are created equal. During COVID we saw a lot of "virtual" events. I remember one event in the US where "volunteer" camera people were used (each skater supplied their own camera person), with very mixed results. Some of the videos were OK, some were nearly unwatchable for a variety of reasons (failure to zoom, poor panning, etc). Skate Canada used a professional videographer, with much better and more uniform results. Also, I believe the Skate Ontario competitions usually involve multiple streams from multiple rinks for many hours and several days, so a lot of manpower, volunteer or otherwise. (NOTE: I'm trying to think of a gender-neutral synonym for manpower and blanking on it. Anything I can think of doesn't have the right tone. If anyone has a good alternative word or phrase, I'll be happy to change it.
The announcement doesn't say what the previous fee to the skaters was, just that it was being discontinued. I'm very curious to know what it was.
Manpower : resources, workforce, staff etc
- Joined
- Oct 22, 2022
It's even possible the arena's own rules would forbid amateur recording on that scale. At the sports club where I mainly skate, only coaches are allowed to film a pupil of any sport on their phones, briefly, for training purposes. Any performance for an audience, or a full event, has to be filmed by a professional company and the recording is owned by the club (although you can pay to have a copy made for yourself). This is left over from a father deciding to document "a day in the life of my 10-year-old hockey player", and other parents objected to him filming in the dressing room as well as on the ice. Rather than get picky with detailed exceptions, the club just made a blanket rule. It's unlikely that happens often, but apparently the club's board of governors got the idea from some other sports venues elsewhere in the country who have the same rule.
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2015
I have seen livestream with star skaters before.. but yeah. i don't know the rules and i don't pay attention to much other than juniors and seniors.
From the 2024 October announcement, the fee was $10 plus HST. It's on page 4.
Skate BC charges a similar fee (page 3 of the August 2025 competition announcement), so Ontario wasn't alone in charging a fee.
Edit - looking at Quebec, video is included as part of the registration fee (page 7 of the CQE announcement). In that case, skaters are sent links for individual videos.
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Now that you've found the amount of the fee charged to the skaters, I feel that it is a very modest amount, both compared to the total entry fee and as an amount to provide access to the video for the skater's friends and family and to provide the skater/parents with a permanent record of their performance. Making it available to fans in general is just a free side benefit under the old model.
The new model could easily cost a skater's family MUCH MORE, if both grandma and Auntie Jane, in different cities, want to watch a competition live and the parents want to download their own skater's performance for posterity.
I like BC/Quebec models where the streaming fee is just included in the entry fee. BC goes the extra mile to disclose it. Interestingly, they don't disclose how much of the entry fee goes toward other expenses such as judges travel and accommodation, arena rental, equipment rental, etc.
Filming other people's children without permission is definitely a bad idea. Our community center visits classes occasionally to take pictures that they use for publicity, like in the Recreation Guide. They only photograph participants who have given consent in writing. And this is for adults! I imagine they're even more careful about children.
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