Are U.S. Figure Skating folks spying on this board?
- Thread starter fiercemao
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hwell:
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- Oct 31, 2006
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And it's failing miserably. Yeah, be sure to watch NBC for your 2 hours of Skate America and 2 hours of Worlds coverage.
:chorus: More than likely, Ice Network has already subscribed the fan base willing to shell out the money for their reported shabby coverage in this dying economy. Do they realize the country is suffering from a recession? Basically everyone I know, who isn't self-employed, has lost or is in danger of losing their job.
It really is a shame that a network like Oxygen isn't broadcasting the entire Grand Prix Series for American viewers. Skating sure would be more fulfilling and gratifying than what that network normally shows on a regular basis. You simply won't get the quality or dependability viewing on a PC screen the way you would if you were viewing on a big screen TV. Even when skating was aired on tv in the States, it was small pickings, but it was a whole lot better than what we have now. I am very thankful for the 15 hours of coverage from Worlds that is scheduled to appear on Oxygen though. THAT is a step in the right direction! Of course, it is problematic for those who are not offered Oxygen in their normal cable package. Oh well.............
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It should be very apparent to subscribers of this and other forums that IceNetwork and many of it's subscribers (who wish to see IN become profitable and therefore successful in growing it's viewership) are working together to get illegally posted videos taken down.
They read all the forums, and use the very information being posted to aid in their efforts to enforce copyright violations of their webcasted events. They are becoming aware of all the various (YouTube type) sites in this effort.
The online skating community has had free reign on posting televised skating programs for numerous years simply because the TV networks paid little or no attention to the potential for making money from the web, until recently. This lack of attention to violation of their copyrighted programming has led to the current attitude that removal of copyrighted videos is wrong.
Well, skating fans, it was never wrong...just never enforced until now. U.S. Figure Skating's future plans for IceNetwork (which I suspect are far bigger than any of us contemplate) rest upon becoming financially viable and those few fans who do nothing but complain and bash their efforts to control their product are cutting off their noses to spite their face.
Many of the posts on the web are made without any knowledgable thoughts that are based upon actual factual information... mostly unfounded opinion and speculation. I.E. no one except those who own and work for IceNetwork knows anything about the innerworkings there, and how many subscribers they have (at this point). I would venture to say that their subscriber base is much larger than anyone here would estimate... and that it is a far larger number than the tiny amount of posters to the skating forums who spend too many wasted hours complaining about and bashing IN.
Figure Skating presentation on TV is never again going to command the viewership it had during the 1990's simply because Cable TV's growth has fragmented the viewship base forever. There is simply too much competition for the advertising dollar. Skating coverage has begun it's shift in coverage to the web and that is it's future, like it or not. The days of free Television coverage are basically over.
So, complain away...the change is upon us. We either decide to help IceNetwork succeed or not. Either that or those who decide (for whatever reason) to fight against it, may suceed in destroying any viewing of skating on the internet in the future. To me, that choice is a non-starter.
They read all the forums, and use the very information being posted to aid in their efforts to enforce copyright violations of their webcasted events. They are becoming aware of all the various (YouTube type) sites in this effort.
The online skating community has had free reign on posting televised skating programs for numerous years simply because the TV networks paid little or no attention to the potential for making money from the web, until recently. This lack of attention to violation of their copyrighted programming has led to the current attitude that removal of copyrighted videos is wrong.
Well, skating fans, it was never wrong...just never enforced until now. U.S. Figure Skating's future plans for IceNetwork (which I suspect are far bigger than any of us contemplate) rest upon becoming financially viable and those few fans who do nothing but complain and bash their efforts to control their product are cutting off their noses to spite their face.
Many of the posts on the web are made without any knowledgable thoughts that are based upon actual factual information... mostly unfounded opinion and speculation. I.E. no one except those who own and work for IceNetwork knows anything about the innerworkings there, and how many subscribers they have (at this point). I would venture to say that their subscriber base is much larger than anyone here would estimate... and that it is a far larger number than the tiny amount of posters to the skating forums who spend too many wasted hours complaining about and bashing IN.
Figure Skating presentation on TV is never again going to command the viewership it had during the 1990's simply because Cable TV's growth has fragmented the viewship base forever. There is simply too much competition for the advertising dollar. Skating coverage has begun it's shift in coverage to the web and that is it's future, like it or not. The days of free Television coverage are basically over.
So, complain away...the change is upon us. We either decide to help IceNetwork succeed or not. Either that or those who decide (for whatever reason) to fight against it, may suceed in destroying any viewing of skating on the internet in the future. To me, that choice is a non-starter.
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Yes, it appears that US figure skating is determined to destroy viewing skating on the internet.
They are legally entitled to do so, at least in the US.
If they had launched a bang up product with IN, it would be win/win. Unfortunately, with bad user support, poor viewing quality, it's lose/lose.
Even paying for IN so that I can see the event live (and I do), I would rather take the time to download British Eurosport and watch it.
If they had a brain, they would have bought the rights to rebroadcast British Eurosport on IN.
Also, they would take advertising to help fund the website.
But they don't.
We all lose.
They are legally entitled to do so, at least in the US.
If they had launched a bang up product with IN, it would be win/win. Unfortunately, with bad user support, poor viewing quality, it's lose/lose.
Even paying for IN so that I can see the event live (and I do), I would rather take the time to download British Eurosport and watch it.
If they had a brain, they would have bought the rights to rebroadcast British Eurosport on IN.
Also, they would take advertising to help fund the website.
But they don't.
We all lose.
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