I love Tracy Wilson's commentary! She is sympathetic to poor performances and manages to draw something positive out of it for the skater. Very knowledgeable, very fair and interesting.
One more thing I like about Tracy--she usually knows how to stay quiet from time to time.
S & P were not so great last year in their broadcasting debut and I can't say I'm looking forward to Kurt's schtick either.
I was actually impressed with S&P's commentary last year and was especially impressed with how natural and funny David sounded in his second language. I look forward to hearing them again.
As for Kurt, I actually haven't gotten around to downloading most of the commentary he's done for ESPN over the past few years, so I look forward to seeing how much he's (hopefully) improved since his first commentary attempts in 1994/95. I just hope he won't sound too biased towards the skaters he's choreographed programs for this season!
As far as I know, the contract between CTV and Skate Canada ended earlier this year. Apparently, International Skating Union put a damper on contract negotiation between Skate Canada and CTV, by demanding outrageous amount. CTV backed out of the long, drawn-out negotiation and CBC got a good deal a few months later.
The only thing I have to add to this explanation is the fact neither of the major Canadian networks have been able to work out a deal to broadcast Worlds in Canada yet because they don't want to or can't afford to pay the amount the ISU wants. Now
that is truly sad.
Does anyone else find that the music on CBC is waaaay too quiet, compared to the commentators voices? I feel like the music gets drowned out on CBC.
I notice that happens whenever the CBC has to rely on another network's host feed (ie. Worlds). Since the CBC itself will be Skate Canada's host broadcaster, hopefully that won't happen this time.
SC's off site says 'All events available live and on-demand at cbcsports.ca':
http://www.skatecanada.ca/en/events_results/events/sci07/event/schedule.cfm
(scroll the page down)
I'll believe it when I see it.
Believe it.
Here's a direct link to the CBC Sports video player:
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/player/
Click on the "Figure Skating" link on the side of the screen to watch Skate Canada.
There's already a few fluff pieces posted there. I hope non-Canadian viewers will be able to watch them--and the rest of the competition once it happens--too.
I also noticed there's a link to "Dance Compulsory" on the site, so I hope that means we really will get to watch the
whole competition online!
