Eurosport Updates

lyverbird1 said:

Well dang. Thank you Australian Open tennis. Went through the schedule up to next Sunday night and all they're offering us for coverage of the Europeans is (non-live) coverage of the pairs' and men's free. No short programmes in any discipline and unless the ladies and dance appear at some point late Sunday or Monday/Tuesday then nothing from them. So, any tips for a live feed would be most welcome!

And, looking a few weeks down the road - anyone have any info on Eurosport's upcoming Olympic coverage? They did get Olympic rights for the first time, didn't they? I'm hoping they can do the skating justice then.

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Using the expression which seems to be in trend I am absolutely furious!!!!
And as it was pointed out in another Euro thread, even those programs you mentioned might not materialise due to the live Masters (snooker) coverage which like go on beyond 3.15h allotted so most likely we won't even see any of Men & Pair free either!
I share you concern about Olympics coverage. Do BBC have rights too for just these Olympics?

Edit: BTW I complained to their customer care and even got a reply - I encourage everyone do the same -it is not likely to lead to anything but at least let them know that the issue exists!

lyverbird1 said:

Well dang. Thank you Australian Open tennis. Went through the schedule up to next Sunday night and all they're offering us for coverage of the Europeans is (non-live) coverage of the pairs' and men's free. No short programmes in any discipline and unless the ladies and dance appear at some point late Sunday or Monday/Tuesday then nothing from them. So, any tips for a live feed would be most welcome!

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Yep, it's pretty grim. Check out the Europeans TV/livestream thread for further options. https://goldenskate.com/forum/showthread.php?68211-2018-Europeans-TV-and-Livestream

On the Continent it's not too bad, but they'll have to watch out for snooker overrunning, will all depend on local schedules.

Will be good coverage of 4 Continents though, considering not expecting anything.

lyverbird1 said:

Well dang. Thank you Australian Open tennis. Went through the schedule up to next Sunday night and all they're offering us for coverage of the Europeans is (non-live) coverage of the pairs' and men's free. No short programmes in any discipline and unless the ladies and dance appear at some point late Sunday or Monday/Tuesday then nothing from them. So, any tips for a live feed would be most welcome!

And, looking a few weeks down the road - anyone have any info on Eurosport's upcoming Olympic coverage? They did get Olympic rights for the first time, didn't they? I'm hoping they can do the skating justice then.

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I don't know about specific sports, but from what I've picked up from the following press release, the vast majority of the Olympics coverage is going to be on the Eurosport Player:

http://media.eurosport.com/eurospor...sionid=E210055390C872637CE7158D85A111F6.prem1

So, given that there is so little coverage of Europeans, it mightn't be a bad idea to take out a subscription tomorrow evening. A one month subscription (£6.99) would get you Europeans, 4 Continents and up to the end of the Men's SP at the Olympics. And by then we should know what the TV coverage is like, so you would be able to work out if it is worth getting it for another month.

Here is the Coloured Time Schedule for the Olympics:
http://www.isuresults.com/schedules/OWG2018_ColouredTimeSchedule.pdf

By the way, I have started updating my schedule post for Europeans. And I have to say, the weekend looks even worse than the weekdays!

CaroLiza_fan

Tutto said:

Using the expression which seems to be in trend I am absolutely furious!!!!
And as it was pointed out in another Euro thread, even those programs you mentioned might not materialise due to the live Masters (snooker) coverage which like go on beyond 3.15h allotted so most likely we won't even see any of Men & Pair free either!
I share you concern about Olympics coverage. Do BBC have rights too for just these Olympics?

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BBC do have rights, plus looks pretty comprehensive judging from this I saw the other day. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/winter-sports/42618501

Problem for watching live is likely to be time of competitions. Don't know full details but certainly some of the competitions e.g. ladies and mens will be prime time USA time, so early hours of morning UK/European time. Will have to see closer to time and get ready to set your recorder so that can e.g. watch as live.

Miller said:

BBC do have rights, plus looks pretty comprehensive judging from this I saw the other day. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/winter-sports/42618501

Problem for watching live is likely to be time of competitions. Don't know full details but certainly some of the competitions e.g. ladies and mens will be prime time USA time, so early hours of morning UK/European time. Will have to see closer to time and get ready to set your recorder so that can e.g. watch as live.

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I really wish the two broadcasters would hurry up and announce actual schedules of what they are showing on their linear channels, and on their streaming services.

But, what I really hope is that the regular commentators that we hear throughout the season are still going to be covering the same sports at the Olympics.

Last week, Charlie Brougham was commentating on the Women's Slalom at Kranska Gora for Eurosport. And although he has a lot of experience covering Alpine Skiing on the BBC, he was hopeless compared to Eurosport's regular commentator for the Women's Alpine races, Matt Chilton.

Patrick Winterton and Mike Dixon are absolutely brilliant when commentating together on Biathlon and Cross Country Skiing. They really bounce off each other. But, they aren't the same when they are on their own, or with somebody else.

Patrick was commentating on the ski jumping for the BBC at the last Olympics and, although he was OK, it wasn't the same as what we are used to hearing.

As I said in the Ski Jumping thread, I love the way David Goldstrom is so fair when talking about the jumpers, no matter what country they are from. Just like Simon, Chris and Nicky are in the figure skating coverage.

It would be a shame if we had different people commentating at the Olympics.

That said, I have found that Simon Golding is always good as a stand in commentator, no matter what the sport is! (Remember how good he was commentating on figure skating on the Olympic Channel last season).

CaroLiza_fan

CaroLiza_fan said:

I don't know about specific sports, but from what I've picked up from the following press release, the vast majority of the Olympics coverage is going to be on the Eurosport Player

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Oy, that reminds me, I really need to look into how many streams on how many devices you can run on one account. I think there are some funky "rules" that I'm not really aware of yet, like you can use multiple devices, but only, for instance, one computer/laptop and one mobile device, and/or one smartTV app, etc.
edit: or maybe I'm mixing it up with another livestream account I subscribe to... at least I cannot find anything about restrictions on the eurosportplayer website.

Just spotted 2 hours of Euros (not specified) at 2am next Tuesday. Why can't they show the whole lot at night if they so pressed with other events?

Tutto said:

Just spotted 2 hours of Euros (not specified) at 2am next Tuesday. Why can't they show the whole lot at night if they so pressed with other events?

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Ugh, their dreaded "highlights" show. Most likely to be just the free skates of the top three in each discipline. I remember their effort at this before and if memory serves correct it wasn't even our usual beloved commentators. So disappointy

Tutto said:

Just spotted 2 hours of Euros (not specified) at 2am next Tuesday. Why can't they show the whole lot at night if they so pressed with other events?

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I expect to see the live stream without commentary on the Eurosport player, so I recommend using that one instead of a cable subscription of Eurosport...

Also it seems that Sigi Heinrich won't be commentating the Olympics :sad4: Apparently it has to do with the complicated way IOC gives out broadcasting rights per country, which disadvantages multi-country broadcasters like Eurosport ....

does anyone know who will commentate instead? Or if there is commentary at all? I was looking forward to Sigi and Hendrikes commentary :sad4: will that always go-happy woman commentate instead?

Eclair said:

Also it seems that Sigi Heinrich won't be commentating the Olympics :sad4: Apparently it has to do with the complicated way IOC gives out broadcasting rights per country, which disadvantages multi-country broadcasters like Eurosport ....

does anyone know who will commentate instead? Or if there is commentary at all? I was looking forward to Sigi and Hendrikes commentary :sad4: will that always go-happy woman commentate instead?

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I've read that Schamberger will commentate with Petra Bindl.

David21 said:

I've read that Schamberger will commentate with Petra Bindl.

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why not Hendryk and Sigi:sad4:? I really despise Petra's commentary. She's so boring, always commentating with the same intonation and melody in her voice, and she acts impressed after every skate.

Sigi at least had some black humor and was honest. Sigi and Hendryk are FUNNY and knowledgeable in their commentary.

And WHY is Petra commentating Europeans now, too??

Petra is like Tara. Lots of unnecessary, boring info, no humor and she doesn't even give her honest opinions about a skate. For her, every skate was 'great!'. And Hendryk sound like he's bored and annoyed by Petra, too ... He makes a lot less jokes and puns and holds back in his opinion, too ...

If Petra is doing 4cc, too, I think I'll cancel my Eurosport player subscription today. Her commentary is just too annoying..

UK/Ireland viewers - programme has just popped up on Sky's programme guide. 5.30 p.m. today, 1 hour, says men's free programme, can't be but will soon find out what it is!

Further news to follow re 4 Continents - not good, no longer live by looks of it on Continent + UK/Ireland, will be highlights though. Missing European highlights next Wednesday, plus watch out for Free Dance Saturday morning (Europeans), has disappeared off UK Player - will it reappear or will people need to find another livestream? (don't know about Continental players) - looks like will be live stream on Player for 4 Continents though.

It is being reported on http://www.totaaltv.nl/nieuws/eurosport-stunt-met-olympisch-abonnement-eurosport-player/ that Eurosport in the Netherlands will offer a special 99 eurocents (0.99 euro) subscription to the Eurosport Player for the duration of the Olympic Games. Actually it's a speciall offer for a monthly subscription, but you can cancel as soon as you are subscribed, so you only pay those 99 cents.

Earlier reports suggest that Eurosport 1 will be some of 'switch' channel, where they switch live between the highlights that are taking place at the various sports. I don't really know how that works, though, I mean: for a Dutchman speed skating is almost always more important than anything else, while I'm pretty positive a lot of other European countries couldn't care less, so not sure who makes the decisions on what is a highlight, and/or if countries can decide for themselves what to show.

Anyway, they're providing livestreams, so I'm happy. :agree:

Winnie_20 said:

It is being reported on http://www.totaaltv.nl/nieuws/eurosport-stunt-met-olympisch-abonnement-eurosport-player/ that Eurosport in the Netherlands will offer a special 99 eurocents (0.99 euro) subscription to the Eurosport Player for the duration of the Olympic Games. Actually it's a speciall offer for a monthly subscription, but you can cancel as soon as you are subscribed, so you only pay those 99 cents.

Earlier reports suggest that Eurosport 1 will be some of 'switch' channel, where they switch live between the highlights that are taking place at the various sports. I don't really know how that works, though, I mean: for a Dutchman speed skating is almost always more important than anything else, while I'm pretty positive a lot of other European countries couldn't care less, so not sure who makes the decisions on what is a highlight, and/or if countries can decide for themselves what to show.

Anyway, they're providing livestreams, so I'm happy. :agree:

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Wonder if it'll be a bit like 'NFL Redzone' we get on Sky TV in the UK, overall commentator and keeps switching back and forth between games. However maybe not enough events going on for this to be a lot of a problem, plus you'll be glad speed skating is scheduled for PM/evening time Korean time, unlike all the skating events which are morning time (10 a.m. Korean i.e. 1 a.m. GMT/2 a.m. CET), so you shouldn't haven't any clashes if recording Dutch TV. Don't know what else skating will clash with, skiing certainly, but no schedules on Wikipedia for Freestyle skiing i.e. tricks, and snowboarding. Didn't take it any further at this moment in time, waiting to see what they're going to do, but hopefully won't be too much clashing with skating - cross-country type events are also all p.m./evening time, plus of course the Player should hopefully have the full event for each program and discipline.

Miller said:

Wonder if it'll be a bit like 'NFL Redzone' we get on Sky TV in the UK, overall commentator and keeps switching back and forth between games.

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Yes, something like that. But since it's Eurosport, I'm rather curious how that would work. Would the different countries be able to decide for themselves what to show, or would it be like, oh hey, there's something going on that a large European country is big at, so that's what we're switching to.

you'll be glad speed skating is scheduled for PM/evening time Korean time, unlike all the skating events which are morning time (10 a.m. Korean i.e. 1 a.m. GMT/2 a.m. CET), so you shouldn't haven't any clashes if recording Dutch TV.

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Me, personally? I'm not glad at all. I dislike speed skating. It bores me silly. In the Netherlands, Winter Olympics equals speed skating. It's the only thing we're any good at (and the only reason we ever rate somewhere decent with the medal count, lol).
And I'm mad as heck at NBC for paying a gazillion bucks just so that they can show the figure skating primetime in the USA. My fellow countrymen can all just watch some speed skating during lunch time (which NBC obviously don't care about, why would they?!), while it costs me two weeks leave from work because that's the only way I can possibly watch live during the night. :sarcasm:
Ah, I thought I'd made my peace with it, but I'm still kind of annoyed about it :noshake: (and will be even more in three weeks' time. I'm so not good at being awake during the night.)

Don't know what else skating will clash with, skiing certainly

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I found this very handy schedule the other day, with my timezone. http://www.winterspelen2018.nl/?programma
In particular the downhill skiing, snowboarding and some of the freestyle skiing is also during the night here. Makes sense, those would be of particular interest to the general US audience.

Apropos of nothing, have since come across other websites that say the same thing about the 99 cents deal for the BeneLux (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg) plus suggesting there'll be similar offers for other European countries. Makes sense. I'm guessing Eurosport are hoping that a lot of people are swayed by the price... and then conveniently forget to unsub for the next month.



btw anyone else here use the Player on tvOS (apple tv app)? It's being so buggy this week, it's driving me crazy. I've already had to reinstall the app twice because it gave me "no content" errors, and a third time because the play/pause button on the remote didn't work anymore (i.e. I couldn't pause a stream in the Player... the play/pause button worked fine in the other apps I tried, including youtube, so it was definitely a Eurosport player bug).
With only three weeks to go until the Olympics, I sure hope they get their act together before then. I never had this much trouble with the tvOS app.

I got a month subscribtion for Eurosport Player today, did a search for figure skating and it came up with a bunch of Olympics scheduling. I've got questions though:

Do the times on the Eurosport Player mean the times of TV broadcast, Player stream or both?

Does the Player stream things that are not included in the TV broadcast?

Basically, if what currently shows up is all that's going to be streamed, then some of the event's won't be shown at all, some will be severly cut (for example, to only 2 last groups) or they're not going to be shown live.

Rissa said:

Do the times on the Eurosport Player mean the times of TV broadcast, Player stream or both?

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I would have questions, too, if I did a search like that right now (like I just did). Man, those search results are all over the place!

From what I can tell, right now the search results only include the lineair channels E1 and E2, so to answer your question, they mean the TV broadcast.

You can tell by the icon in the lower right corner, it says E1 or E2. The Player stream would be simply E.

That said, the E1 and E2 listings are rather confusing (at my end, anyway), because they're not listed chronologically, and is a lot of stuff on there that's not live, but airs on those channels in the 'normal' morning in western Europe... when people are actually awake.

Does the Player stream things that are not included in the TV broadcast?

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The Player will/ should air 100 % of the figure skating... and every other sport.

Basically, if what currently shows up is all that's going to be streamed [...]

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So no, no worries, all that's listed right now is just some that's on the TV channels (and it's not a complete schedule yet, either, I'm sure there'll be more).

The Player had an update a few days ago, stating they will add an Olympics section early February, so I'm thinking it'll also be very easy then to get a quick schedule inside the app for any sports you may want to see. :thumbsup:

A few updates.

Over the past couple of weeks, there have been a few tweaks made to the Eurosport Player. Some of which I like, and some which I don’t.

Firstly, it used to be that when you brought your cursor over the Eurosport Player screen, the screen would darken and three buttons for “-30 seconds”, “play / pause”, and “+30 seconds” would appear in the middle of the screen.

As of a couple of weeks ago, these buttons are now located at the bottom of the screen, to the left of the volume control. (Yes, there always a “play / pause” button there as well. But, now the other 2 buttons are there too).

Whilst it makes things a lot tidier, and means that less of the picture is obscured when your cursor strays onto the Player screen, it is really fiddily to get the cursor positioned on these smaller buttons if you and your mouse are on the other side of the room to the screen you are watching on!

Personally, I would like it to be like it is on YouTube, where you can click anywhere on the video screen to play or pause. But, it is a start.

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The second development happened at the same time. Basically, if you are watching an On Demand video in full-screen mode, the information on the page below it is now displayed permanently in the top left-hand corner of the video screen. So, the title, details, and time it was originally scheduled to be broadcast.

For example, if we take the oldest figure skating video currently on the Player:


This is not a problem if you are watching on a 4:3 screen, as the writing will appear in the black bar above the letterbox.

HOWEVER, if you are watching on a 16:9 screen, the writing is over the picture. Which is very distracting. BUT, it is even more distracting if you are watching figure skating, because it partially overlaps with the new Tech Box.

Now, I was never a fan of the Tech Box since it was introduced, because I found it very distracting having the current score changing in the corner. But, this new Tech Box is even worse, as there are more things changing.

Anyway, these new video details are partially covering the top line of the new Tech Box, where it tells you what element is being scored. And not only does it look a mess, but the overlap actually makes it more noticeable when things are changing.

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Now, the third change I think was an experiment, because it hasn’t happened since.

On Friday, whenever you opened an On Demand video, a 30 second advert would be played before it started playing the actual video. Just like you sometimes get on YouTube. But, you couldn’t skip the ad.

So, I have a feeling that this could be something that could be introduced on a permanent basis in the future.

To be honest, I’m not that bothered about this. Because, having inserted tailored adverts at the start could actually mean that Eurosport are able to put up nicely trimmed videos from the Eurosport International coverage, which tend to have nice wee features in the places where the national versions show localised adverts.

Which would make it a lot easier and cheaper for Eurosport, as the video would only need to be uploaded once. And it would have the same address no matter which country’s Player you were watching.

Just so long as it doesn’t get like Daily Motion, where they insert ads in the most inconvenient of places. Like, when somebody is mid-sentence, or even mid-word!

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During the coverage of the London Masters snooker a couple of weeks ago, there was a “coming up” slate for the Olympics. And, I don't know if I am reading too much into things, but the slate only mentioned Eurosport 1 and the Eurosport Player.

So, I am getting the impression that they are going to do the same for the Olympics as they are currently doing for the Australian Open:


The reason I say this is that there are also other non-Olympic events happening during those couple of weeks which Eurosport has the rights to. Such as the first round of the World Superbikes on 24[SUP]th[/SUP] / 25[SUP]th[/SUP] February, and a couple of snooker tournaments (although, Eurosport only have the continental rights for those tournaments. ITV4 have the UK rights).

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Rissa said:

I got a month subscribtion for Eurosport Player today, did a search for figure skating and it came up with a bunch of Olympics scheduling. I've got questions though:

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OK, I'll try and answer them.

Rissa said:

Do the times on the Eurosport Player mean the times of TV broadcast, Player stream or both?

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Both. Generally speaking, you will find that the World Feed streams are longer than TV broadcast on the ESP1 / ESP2 streams, because the TV channels very rarely stay for podium ceremonies because of having to move onto other events. And I will expect that to be even more the case during the Olympics.

Rissa said:

Does the Player stream things that are not included in the TV broadcast?

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A lot more! Because, with only having 2 TV channels, they are going to find it very tough to fit every sport in.

We already know that if they are showing LIVE figure skating on the TV, the best we normally get from Eurosport is the final 2 groups (sometimes more if there are no other things clashing with it, but very rarely the whole competition). But, on the Player, they show the World Feed for every competition in it's entirity, but without commentary.

In Alpine Skiing, Eurosport tends to only show the first 30 skiiers to go down the hill. But, on the World Feed on the Player, you get to see as many as 40 more skiiers! And then the Podium Ceremony at the end.

Rissa said:

Basically, if what currently shows up is all that's going to be streamed, then some of the event's won't be shown at all, some will be severly cut (for example, to only 2 last groups) or they're not going to be shown live.

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Are you looking at the TV schedule page on the Eurosport website (Eurosport International / British Eurosport)? Because the TV schedule page on the Eurosport Player is currently only going up to Sunday 4th.

This is where I have to put out a warning.

• The TV schedule page on the Eurosport website (Eurosport International / British Eurosport) shows the listings for yesterday, today, and the next 14 days. BUT, it does not include the listings for the additional streams, which it looks like most of the Olympic coverage will be.
  
  
• The TV schedule page on the Eurosport Player does include the listings for the additional streams. BUT, the listings on it are for the past 7 days, today, and the next 7 days. So, not as far into the future.

I know - they should have it so that both websites show the listings for everything. But, this is Eurosport we are talking about, where logic seems to go out the window.

Hope this helps

CaroLiza_fan

CaroLiza_fan said:

Are you looking at the TV schedule page on the Eurosport website (Eurosport International / British Eurosport)? Because the TV schedule page on the Eurosport Player is currently only going up to Sunday 4th?

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If you do a search for "figure skating" in the Player (or any other sports), you'll get search results all the way up to and including the Gala Exhibition @ Olympics (talk about far into the future, that's nearly a month!)
But, again, only lineair channels.