We have had several discussions about what the program component "Skating Skills" is supposed to mean, and why all the other components seem to key on this one.
Here is a very interesting report on a PSA seminar on the ISU judging system conducted recently by David Kirby, Judy Blumberg and David Santee (Liz Leamy, reporter, from George Rossano's site).
http://www.iceskatingintnl.com/current/content/2010 PSA Conference IJS Seminar.htm
[Although jumps and spins are still important] ultimately...these elements don’t mean a thing if a competitor cannot skate well, a situation that unfortunately seems to occur more often than one would actually expect. Marks instantly decline when a skater walks through their elements and viewers tend to lose interest, according to IJS officials [my emphasis]...
I would agree with other posters here that "viewers" (fans, general audience, etc.) tend to be at least as interested in exciting tricks and charisma, body line, musicality as they are in skating skills -- even more so when the viewers are viewing on TV or on computer screens than when they're watching live. If the question was "How can we retain and gain general audiences to pay to watch our sport," then it would be important to emphasize those qualities.
I'm not sure that's what Leamy meant in summarizing the seminar with that phrase -- certainly she didn't add the emphasis on viewers that Mathman did -- and I don't think it was the focus of the seminar.
The PSA conference is an opportunity for coaches at all levels to network and learn from experts. Master coaches offer seminars for less experienced coaches on many topics related to coaching. In this case, the coaches presenting this seminar are also technical specialists and were offering insights based on that experience that coaches could use in preparing their students for success in competition.
They were not presenting themselves as marketing experts and offering advice on how to train skaters to attract more members of the general public as spectators. They were advising coaches on how to use the PCS to their students' advantage in competition.
Most of that would be competition at lower levels, with the expectation that few would ever reach a level of competition that would be televised.
Probably most of the coaches they were addressing have juvenile and intermediate competitors as the majority of their students who compete under IJS, with an occasional novice, junior, or senior.
Some of the most common mistakes that prohibit development of a fine-skilled skater include stiff knees, bending too far forward, pushing with toe picks, balancing on the incorrect part of the blade, using incomplete stroking edges and short jerky steps, skating in straight lines rather than using curves and edges and skating mostly on two feet rather than one. These characteristics, taken separately or as a collective whole, can prevent the development of a skater into a top contender in a major way...
If it's true that those kinds of errors or weaknesses in skating technique "prevent the development of a skater into a top contender," that means that the general public never gets to see skaters in whom those weaknesses predominate. We can't give examples of skaters with weak skating skills on the absolute 0-10 scale and name names because those skaters have never been on TV.
Most senior-level skaters who don't make it to the free program at Worlds or get Grand Prix invitations earn Skating Skills scores in the 4s, 5s, and 6s, the green area on
this chart. Most of the "world-class" skaters we see on TV earn SS scores in the 6s, 7s, and 8s, occasionally even 9s -- the yellow (gold) area on the chart. But the numbers of skaters anywhere in the world who deserves 8s or 9s will always be tiny compared to the total number of skaters -- those numbers represent
exceptional quality, not expected of everyone.
So when we say that a famous skater has weak skating skills (by elite standards), we probably mean "below 6" or even "in the 6s" (above average for all skaters, but
I think Kirby's concern in these remarks was more with skaters whose skills would fall in the red area.
If they're already at senior level, already near the end of their development, and can't skate any better than 3-point-something, their skating skills are deficient for their competitive level, and that will show up in their scores and results. It's hard to land triple jumps or to present good body line or musical expression while still struggling to control the blades in basic skating.
If the skaters are still developing, then skating skills are one of the most important things they should be working on to be able to reach higher levels.
The other day when I was at the rink, there were a couple of skaters on the ice who were home from college for the holidays. A couple years ago they had been competing at junior or low-level senior internationals, but lately they've been studying and not training. They weren't doing double jumps, but they looked comfortable on the ice.
And another skater who wasn't doing freestyle at all but practicing junior(?) moves in the field and pregold compulsory dances.
There were also a number of teen and preteen skaters, preliminary through novice level, running their programs and practicing double jumps.
None of these skaters was anywhere near the level you would see on the Grand Prix or in the final groups of a large international competition. We're not talking about skating that anyone would charge money to viewers or to sponsors for the privilege of watching.
If you walked into that rink and became a viewer for that practice session, aside from the interest in watching the choreography of the program runthroughs, what do you think would catch your interest more? Fairly strong and nuanced skating, or weaker skating with so-so double jump attempts?
And if you were casting for ensemble skating roles (not featured stars) in a show like, say, Disney on Ice, would you be looking more at skating ability or jump repertoire?
Supported by their aerodynamic choreography? 
They are not made anymore! 
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