Where have all the skaters gone?

[Charlotte 71]

Where have all the figure skaters gone?

The sport that peaked in the 1990s in the US could desperately use a makeover — and not just at the Olympic level.

www.vox.com

Nothing really new, but IMO a well-balanced appraisal.

(Dick Button needs to work on his hands and fingers in the accompanying picture. Nothing wrong with Michelle Kwan, Lu Chen and Irina Slutskaya from 1996, though.)

The author principally blames the continuing elite/expensive aspect of the sport in America.

Is skating as fun to watch as it used to be, especially for viewers who can't tell one jump from another? The IJS has propelled the sport to new technical heights, but the programs might seem all the same and less creative impact for many viewers. Skating programs are a lot "busier" now than they used to be and there is less opportunity to appreciate elements like spirals and split jumps that people like to see.

Somebody posted an exhibition performance from 1978 by Priscilla Hill somewhere on this site recently - she did one double loop and a lot of absolutely beautiful gliding around, and she was mesmerizing. Not saying I enjoyed it more or less than a Sasha Trusova program with four quads, and skating is obviously not going to go backwards, but from the general public's perspective, something is missing.

 

[[email protected]]

Is skating as fun to watch as it used to be, especially for viewers who can't tell one jump from another? The IJS has propelled the sport to new technical heights, but the programs might seem all the same and less creative impact for many viewers. Skating programs are a lot "busier" now than they used to be and there is less opportunity to appreciate elements like spirals and split jumps that people like to see.

Somebody posted an exhibition performance from 1978 by Priscilla Hill somewhere on this site recently - she did one double loop and a lot of absolutely beautiful gliding around, and she was mesmerizing. Not saying I enjoyed it more or less than a Sasha Trusova program with four quads, and skating is obviously not going to go backwards, but from the general public's perspective, something is missing.

There's a lot of beautiful skating in the shows. I went to a couple of Averbukh's ones. Marvelous. But speaking about sports, let Sasha jump her quads.

 

[lappo]

Is skating as fun to watch as it used to be, especially for viewers who can't tell one jump from another? The IJS has propelled the sport to new technical heights, but the programs might seem all the same and less creative impact for many viewers. Skating programs are a lot "busier" now than they used to be and there is less opportunity to appreciate elements like spirals and split jumps that people like to see.

Somebody posted an exhibition performance from 1978 by Priscilla Hill somewhere on this site recently - she did one double loop and a lot of absolutely beautiful gliding around, and she was mesmerizing. Not saying I enjoyed it more or less than a Sasha Trusova program with four quads, and skating is obviously not going to go backwards, but from the general public's perspective, something is missing.

Obviously I'm just talking for myself, but I find most of the IJS programs more interesting than the 6.0 ones...it may be because I never really lived in the 6.0 era and so they aren't the ones of the skaters I grew up with all along, enjoying their competitions. I think that the general public could enjoy skating way more if it were more easily accessible: there are so many entertainment options that one can go through so, unless you're already a fan, why would you bother to put time, not to mention money, into searching for something you don't even know? When skating is easily accessible, it can reach a wider public (as evidenced by the 13 millions views of the recently posted video of the Brown siblings).

 

[el henry]

I would agree that skating needs to be more widely accessible on YouTube and such. It makes no sense to take popular videos down either. Jason's original Riverdance had millions and millions of views, now lost to time because the subscriber was banned. The Browns also, I sure hope they stay up

And figure skating in the US needs to figure out (hahaha) a way to appeal to both the casual fan and the knowledgeable fan. I am repeating what others have said here, but in football for example, you don't need to know the a nickelback defense from a bootleg play to know if you get the ball into the end zone, you score. If you are way into Xs and Os, you can talk that with other fans who are. If not, you can just cheer when they get into the end zone.

And the sport of figure skating is far more than revolutions in the air, which are only one part (and not even the most important) of a multi-faceted and fascinating sport. From my POV, all aspects of the sport could be emphasized to bring in the fans in the USA.

But no one asked me

 

[TallyT]

Is skating as fun to watch as it used to be, especially for viewers who can't tell one jump from another? The IJS has propelled the sport to new technical heights, but the programs might seem all the same and less creative impact for many viewers.

The thing is we are all, including the writer of the article, pretty much saying "it will be more popular with the elements the public (aka people like us and yes I am including me in that us) want to see." But the public in Russia, Japan, Korea, China etc see the IJS same elements, don't they? They seem to be finding plenty of fun in it.

So what is it that US skating is not supplying and they are? Chan and Zhou - and in the last year Jason Brown - are collecting medals, so it can't be just that. Big superstar drawcard names? No current Russian girl has yet to really make this on her own and they quite probably blur a bit in the public eye but as long as there is a Russian at the top, I don't think the public there at the minute care.

Drama? Oh yes, the Russians have overflowing DRAMA (and goodness knows the Harding drama did wonders for US interest way back when) but the Japanese are at least publicly as sweet as sugar for the most part and their biggest star is a ninja hermit who appeared online for rather less than a couple of hours ALL YEAR up till Nationals and said absolutely not a word anyone could create a drama out of.

Aesthetic appeal (yes, this is a sport but it's an artistic one) and - let's be shallow - physical/sex appeal? Hey, they have some share of lookers even if none of them are Gracie at her prime, and the ladies and ice dancers at least are, some of them, putting in a sartorial effort (oh Madison....) And the non-jump-related skating skills/interpretation.artistry/theatre - the sheer beauty that skating can be? Because there are skaters, under IJS as previously, who even the newbiest newbie can see and appreciate as breathtakingly beautiful on the ice.

What are the other countries doing right?

 

[gliese]

So no FS scholarships? I wonder if N. Chen or V.Zhou's figure skating experiences helped them get into Yale/Brown. Sure there aren't many US kids with a FS background as strong as theirs. I didn't hear much talking about figure skating among my friends and neighbors, although there are several ice rinks in my county, and there is even a skating academy 5 minutes away from my office. I only went there once, to pick up my son after he attended a birthday party there (long time ago).

Things won't change easily in US if parents/kids don't see much coming out of skating when they have to invest a lot (both time and money). I am probably too pragmatic here, but I agree with you, that collegiate skating might help. I see people (include me) make plans for their kids and they always keep an eye on their future college applications.

By that I mean competitive figure skating scholarships a.k.a a scholarship that requires you compete for the college as a varsity sport not a club sport. That's not a thing in figure skating. I personally plan on skating in college, but I don't have the skill to do well in senior ladies, plain and simple. If I did, I would not be wasting my time doing collegiate skating.

If it was more akin to NCAA gymnastics where gymnasts like MyKayla Skinner who are now in the running for the olympics felt that it would be a good challenge, I feel like it would have more success. MyKayla didn't always do well in NCAA, but figure skater's like Heidi Munger who compete at national competitions and get close to last don't feel challenged by collegiate skating. In 2019, Heidi won the collegiate nation championships by 19 points and she had fallen on her 3z.

I would agree that skating needs to be more widely accessible on YouTube and such. It makes no sense to take popular videos down either. Jason's original Riverdance had millions and millions of views, now lost to time because the subscriber was banned. The Browns also, I sure hope they stay up

And figure skating in the US needs to figure out (hahaha) a way to appeal to both the casual fan and the knowledgeable fan. I am repeating what others have said here, but in football for example, you don't need to know the a nickelback defense from a bootleg play to know if you get the ball into the end zone, you score. If you are way into Xs and Os, you can talk that with other fans who are. If not, you can just cheer when they get into the end zone.

And the sport of figure skating is far more than revolutions in the air, which are only one part (and not even the most important) of a multi-faceted and fascinating sport. From my POV, all aspects of the sport could be emphasized to bring in the fans in the USA.

But no one asked me

It would probably help if our commentators actually did some worthwhile commentating instead of Johnny just talking about how it's better to throw a triple and fall than land a double every single time a skater pops a jump as if he's never popped a jump in his life before.

 

[ice coverage]

FWIW, for at least three seasons (most recently 2019-20), Heidi Munger has competed in intercollegiate team skating (non-synchro team skating) as a member of the Boston University team.
(In addition to her individual participation in U.S. Collegiate Championships.)

I have no direct knowledge as to whether Heidi finds intercollegiate skating to be "challenging" -- but I would venture to guess that she finds it to be enjoyable? (No one is forcing her to do it, AFAIK?)
Emmy Ma has been a fellow member of the Boston University intercollegiate team -- who would seem to be a worthy competitor for Heidi, and vice versa.

Anyway, another deficiency of the article in the OP is its lack of acknowledgment that especially this season, USFS has been making considerable efforts to grow collegiate/intercollegiate skating -- with a new ambassadorship program, a big expansion of social media activity, an increased number of articles on Fan Zone, etc.

(BTW, some college synchro skaters do have scholarships, I believe?
I do get that scholarship opportunities for figure skaters are very limited.)

---

ETA:

My post discusses Heidi Munger because axelanika brought her up.
I was not implying that she is the first or only elite involved in collegiate/intercollegiate skating.​

 

[el henry]

.....

It would probably help if our commentators actually did some worthwhile commentating instead of Johnny just talking about how it's better to throw a triple and fall than land a double every single time a skater pops a jump as if he's never popped a jump in his life before.

I've heard this before, but I need to say, I'm not so sure.

I came up in the "glory days" of FS viewership, with Jim McKay and Dick Button commenting. Uncle Dick knew what he was talking about, but he never got into the weeds on jump technique or scoring. Everyone needed to point their toes more and Toller was an exotic creature. The home viewer shouldn't *need* to know intricate scoring details, just like the home viewer doesn't need to know the Xz and Os to understand why the Eagles are losing.

They just need to know that losing they are

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

Intercollegiate figure skating has been a thing for awhile with many of the elites while they were competing on the National and International circuits.

For example: Ryan Bradley is a 3-time Collegiate Champ.

 

[Mathman]

It would probably help if our commentators actually did some worthwhile commentating instead of Johnny just talking about how it's better to throw a triple and fall than land a double every single time a skater pops a jump as if he's never popped a jump in his life before.

Oh, I don't think so. Johnny is constantly arguing with Tara about whether a skater has full control over popping a jump. Tara says, yes. Johnny says no, sometimes you go up in the air and your body just doesn't do it. (Johnny also said to Tara, "That's why you are an Olympic champion and I'm not.")

I don't think he is saying that skaters have the choice either to pop or to fall -- he is just explaining a detail of the scoring system. This is actually useful because sometimes a skater will have a disasterous skate and pop every jump, but doesn't fall down. Hey, how come that skater didn't win a prize, she skated pretty and didn't fall!

 

[Mathman]

Intercollegiate figure skating has been a thing for awhile with many of the elites while they were competing on the National and International circuits.

For example: Ryan Bradley is a 3-time Collegiate Champ.

That is what's wrong with collegiate skating. Sometimes a super-star will come along, a National Champion and Olympian, and mop up the ice with the "real" college/recreational skaters. Sure, they are eleigible to compete if they atre attending college, but still... Alissa Czisny (the second most famous skater to attend Bowling Green University) has two U.S. championships and 2 Collegiate Championships, 4 years apart. Max Aaron and Mirai Nagasu also won.

By the way, I just looked it up. The first collegiate championnships were cumpulsory figures only. Paul Wylie won the very first one, in 1986. The winner in 1989 was "Eddie Shipstad." I wonder if he is the great-grandson of the famous figure skating Hall of Famer of the same name who produced the Ice Folies.?

To make this a "real" college sport there would have be some kind of team aspect, not just an outstanding individual who just happens to be attending college. That would be cool. There might be a few colleges, like the University of Colorado or some of the California schools who could field a team.

When I was in college there were collegiate tournaments for chess teams. In those days there were only two colleges in the country that had such strong chess programs that thery would actiually recruit high school studnets to come to that college. One was Columbia and the other, for students who couldn't get into or couldn't afford Columbia, was the City College of New York (which was tuition free and accepted everyone). One of those two always won. (Alas, chess is not a popular spectator sport any more.)

 

[gliese]

Oh, I don't think so. Johnny is constantly arguing woth Tara about whether a skater has full control over popping a jumps. Tara says, yes. Johnny saysno, sometimes you go up in the air and your body just doesn't do it. (Johnny also said to Tara, "That's why you are an Olympic champion and I'm not.")

I don't think he is saying that skaters have the choice either to pop or to fall -- he is just explaining a detail of the scoring system. This is actually useful because sometimes a skater will have a disasterous skate and pop every jump, but doesn't fall down. Hey, how come that skater didn't win a prize, she skated pretty and didn't fall!

I think it's just funny that he says it after every. single. popped. jump. But yeah I get that.

 

[ice coverage]

... To make this a "real" college sport there would have be some kind of team aspect, not just an outstanding individual who just happens to be attending college. That would be cool. There might be a few colleges, like the University of Colorado or some of the California schools who could field a team. ...

When I was in college there were collegiate tournaments for chess teams. ...

Again: USFS already has an intercollegiate team skating program.

(Not at the NCAA level.
And not to be confused with college synchro.)

Yes, UCLA and UCCS are among the schools who compete in intercollegiate team skating.

ETA:

iirc, UC Berkeley also has a team?
Not gonna look up the whole list at the moment, but a few other examples off the top of my head: U Michigan, NYU, Dartmouth ... (as previously mentioned) Boston University ...​

 

[Mathman]

There's a lot of beautiful skating in the shows. I went to a couple of Averbukh's ones. Marvelous. But speaking about sports, let Sasha jump her quads.

It's funny how the use of words changes over time.

Back in the day, skating had a technical part and a show part. The technical part was school figures. Precision of edges, balance, intricate turns -- that sort of thing.

Then came the show-off part, the free skate. The skaters tired to entertain the audience (and the judges). As skaters became more athletic the show part became more and more embellished with fancy spins and athletic leaps. This was very entertaining. For some reason, they started calling this (especislly the jumping part) "technical." Actually, it was the opposite -- it was the show part .Of course you can't be a good showman without good underlying technique.

Now figures are completely gone (too borig), and "technical" has come to mean almost exclusively the jumping part of the show. The "show part" (PCS, etc.) ..., well I guess that now means pretty costumes, emoting to music and executing pleasing choreography. A complete change in terminology, which makes it hard to compare the modern sport with what it was in the past.

If we say that nowadays audiences like quads, are we saying that they like technique or show?

 

[lopsilceci]

Totally agree about the lack of visibility/accesibility being the main problem right now...

How do you interest a new public in the sport? The Olympics. But after that's over, how do you keep them interested? Let those people have access to keep watching skating competitions. Show them ads saying "Hey, remember those skaters you just watched and loved at the Olympics? They're competing again right now and you can watch everything for free on Youtube!"

Sure, the elite and expensive aspects of the sport hurt, but there's really no way around that. Ice rinks ARE expensive. But if more and more people get interested in the sport it will become more attractive to sponsors or investors, which will benefit the newer generations of skaters and so on...

In this respect, the russians are way ahead of the other big skating countries. They let anyone anywhere watch their competitions for free... Even if it gets a little too crazy at times, the media is also playing their part by milking any bit of drama they can find, which keeps the sport relevant to the general public. I'm sure at this point everyone in Russia knows about the Tutberidze vs Plushenko thing, even if they don't follow fs.
I'm not saying other countries should copy them in this aspect, but at least, remind people that figure skating exists from time to time, not just every four years during the Olympic season.

 

[eppen]

I agree with many of the earlier commentators on the relative shallowness of the Vox article. Which shows how hard it is even for someone inside the sport to pinpoint the problems and to come up with solutions to what could be done about it.

The observation that IJS is not so new anymore was excellent - the oldest pairs skaters or ice dancers of the current competetive skaters might have skated to 6.0 when they were junior, but the rest have never experienced it. This applies also to the audiences, btw, us oldtimers (41 years of FS fandom!) remember the old days and the 6.0, but how many members of the younger audiences have had any exposure to it? Does the comparison matter really?

As my corona lockdown entertainment I watched the top 5 single skaters in the worlds from 1980 until 2020 and the results was mostly that I really do not miss the old days. The IJS is maybe emphasizing difficult jump content, but the artistry or choreographies back in the day were not much better than these days. From the point of view of choreo I would almost say, that these days most choreo is much better planned and thought out than anything before the end of 1990s.

I have no answers to why interest in FS has gone done so much in the past 20 years and no suggestions for getting at least some of it back. But it might be a good idea to make some comparisons with other sports. A while back I read an article on Finnish ballroom dancing - it used to be a fairly popular sport in my country, but has apparently gone down very hard in the recent decades. And this despite all the dance shows coming up and being quite popular among the reality scene. In that case, it was obvious that exposure to dance or specifically to ballroom, has not helped to make the sport popular again. And this despite such shows as Dancing with the Stars where the participants are not professionals and give an example of positive outcomes and how much fun it can be etc.

I truly wonder about those of you complaining about not finding FS content online or videos on YT. I managed to find passable videos of the top 5 worlds skater at least for the past 40 years. When I expanded my horizon to cover the 1970s things got a bit more difficult. The stuff that has gotten removed due to some copyright purges have mostly been replaced. Recently I went through about 1300 competitive programs/season, international comps, all disciplines, junior and senior for 2013-4, 2014-5 and 2019-20 and the programs I could not find on YT where usually the skaters skating for example in the bottom groups in major comps or only in small competitions that were not broadcast or streamed.

This season I have been able to see just about every competition I have wanted to watch and even some of the very few shows through free streaming (in those my trusty VPN has not seen too much action, as a lot of it has not been geoblocked) or with minimal effort through someone allowing their possibly paid stream to be watched by the entire universe. The ones I did not watch live (coz they were in the middle of the night) I usually could catch on YT easily enough. The hardest part sometimes is figuring out time differences... But then I am relatively good with technology and searching for things. And 41 years of FS fandom means that I know what the resources are to get the competitions etc. to me with that minimal effort.

E

 

[lappo]

I agree with many of the earlier commentators on the relative shallowness of the Vox article. Which shows how hard it is even for someone inside the sport to pinpoint the problems and to come up with solutions to what could be done about it.

The observation that IJS is not so new anymore was excellent - the oldest pairs skaters or ice dancers of the current competetive skaters might have skated to 6.0 when they were junior, but the rest have never experienced it. This applies also to the audiences, btw, us oldtimers (41 years of FS fandom!) remember the old days and the 6.0, but how many members of the younger audiences have had any exposure to it? Does the comparison matter really?

As my corona lockdown entertainment I watched the top 5 single skaters in the worlds from 1980 until 2020 and the results was mostly that I really do not miss the old days. The IJS is maybe emphasizing difficult jump content, but the artistry or choreographies back in the day were not much better than these days. From the point of view of choreo I would almost say, that these days most choreo is much better planned and thought out than anything before the end of 1990s.

I have no answers to why interest in FS has gone done so much in the past 20 years and no suggestions for getting at least some of it back. But it might be a good idea to make some comparisons with other sports. A while back I read an article on Finnish ballroom dancing - it used to be a fairly popular sport in my country, but has apparently gone down very hard in the recent decades. And this despite all the dance shows coming up and being quite popular among the reality scene. In that case, it was obvious that exposure to dance or specifically to ballroom, has not helped to make the sport popular again. And this despite such shows as Dancing with the Stars where the participants are not professionals and give an example of positive outcomes and how much fun it can be etc.

I truly wonder about those of you complaining about not finding FS content online or videos on YT. I managed to find passable videos of the top 5 worlds skater at least for the past 40 years. When I expanded my horizon to cover the 1970s things got a bit more difficult. The stuff that has gotten removed due to some copyright purges have mostly been replaced. Recently I went through about 1300 competitive programs/season, international comps, all disciplines, junior and senior for 2013-4, 2014-5 and 2019-20 and the programs I could not find on YT where usually the skaters skating for example in the bottom groups in major comps or only in small competitions that were not broadcast or streamed.

This season I have been able to see just about every competition I have wanted to watch and even some of the very few shows through free streaming (in those my trusty VPN has not seen too much action, as a lot of it has not been geoblocked) or with minimal effort through someone allowing their possibly paid stream to be watched by the entire universe. The ones I did not watch live (coz they were in the middle of the night) I usually could catch on YT easily enough. The hardest part sometimes is figuring out time differences... But then I am relatively good with technology and searching for things. And 41 years of FS fandom means that I know what the resources are to get the competitions etc. to me with that minimal effort.

E

I was one of those complaining but I can only answer from my recent experiences. Basically, I'm a lazy person when it comes to technology so if skating is easily accessible, such as all the Russian competitions as of late, I end up watching everything: in this way I ended up not only watching the notorious skaters but also the up and coming ones who otherwise I would not have known (for example Osokina at the test skates this year, Tsibinova etc...). When a streaming is not as easily accessible then I only watch the big competitions (GPF, Worlds) or the competitions that my favourite skaters attend (e.g. this year I watched men's Japanese nationals) but I don't bother watching competitions that I'm not particularly invested (for example US nationals). Now, I'm sure US figure skating could not care any less about me, but had the stream of nationals appeared in my recommended on youtube I would probably have watched the competition for the fun of it, even though there were no skaters I'm particularly interested in. I could actually also have discovered some skaters I like, same as it happened many times for the Russian competitions. IMO, if you make the stream easily accessible, it is possible that someone just stumble upon it, take an interest in figure skating and then go watching some competitions (as I did in the past); if you have to know beforehand where and when you can watch the competition, only those interested in the specific competition can see it but more casual fan will be discouraged or will be entirely cut off from knowing them. I know this has probably no solution, as Russian state TV can afford to make choices that a private cable cannot; in the end though I can see how one system is better at popularizing skating and the other one, IMO, not so much.

 

[Shayuki]

Is skating as fun to watch as it used to be, especially for viewers who can't tell one jump from another? The IJS has propelled the sport to new technical heights, but the programs might seem all the same and less creative impact for many viewers. Skating programs are a lot "busier" now than they used to be and there is less opportunity to appreciate elements like spirals and split jumps that people like to see.

Somebody posted an exhibition performance from 1978 by Priscilla Hill somewhere on this site recently - she did one double loop and a lot of absolutely beautiful gliding around, and she was mesmerizing. Not saying I enjoyed it more or less than a Sasha Trusova program with four quads, and skating is obviously not going to go backwards, but from the general public's perspective, something is missing.

Uh you blame the IJS for the lack of popularity in the US? That doesn't make a lot of sense, the sport's as popular as ever in Russia and makes use of the same judging system. And I'm not sure I'd agree that spirals or split jumps are what people want to see, exactly. There's a reason these elements such as Spirals are already done by skaters as young as 5 or 6, they're not nearly as amazing as people seem to want to believe and they get boring very quickly. Look at what the Russian ladies are doing, they're popular and that's the sort of skating people actually want to see.

I'd say the blame lies both with the lack of availability(as I already was talking about) but also with the consistently negative / controversial commentary. I'd say that if every commentator commentated with the same positivity as Ted Barton people would find the sport more appealing as well, Lipinski and Weir aren't exactly helping.

 

[eppen]

My tech savvyness when it comes to watching FS is probably partly based on my not having a TV since 2006. I also prefer watching non-commented streams and complete competitions, live if I can. Finnish Broadcasting Company provided streams through their service for years (the rights are now with Viasat, I think). I have mostly watched the major competitions and since 2015-6 also the junior GPs.

But if you are a YT user, suggestions pop up for you based on your previous use and what algorithms think you are interested in, so for someone who is not interested in FS to begin with, the appearance of links for live competition streams or old programs etc. is not very likely. Also, if you think about big sports like soccer, tennis, or many others, you usually have to pay a lot of money to get to watch them and to be there when it happens and so on. Btw, watching the Japanese nationals did require a bit of an effort - I think that one was not a free stream...

Olympics tends to be the competition that still every time creates new fans for FS, I myself got the bug from Lake Placid. But I had watched FS before because we watched the Olympics on TV at home and FS got shown usually because there were Finnish participants. Becoming an actual fan required something else which in my case was Robin Cousins skating to Michael Jackson ( - how much more stereotypical can you get?!). And actually every time I have started to follow a sport or something else, it has been inspired by some particular event and/or person involved. I have not looked into what research thinks of how fandom happens, but maybe it is time to dig into that...

I guess availability of viewing materials etc. could be enough to attract new fans, but am not totally convinced of that argument. The Vox article also mentioned Elladj Balde's enormous success on TikTok (which I don't do) and other social media - he does diversity themes plus gets a lot of extra points for the backflips. These can reach a huge casual audience. But when some of them go and look up figure skating in competitions, and it has really nothing to do with what eg Elladj is doing, majority probably just wanders away and looks up the next fun video on something else. Finding show programs requires already a bit of effort and knowledge and the difference between that reality and a clip on social media is still there.

Btw, right now the warm-up for men's SP in Tallink Hotels Cup in Estonia free stream - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m10Ku3umLDM Not the hottest male skaters on the planet competing there, but I recommend checking out Aleksander Selevko at least (second to last)

E

 

[Jeanie19]

In the U.S. It's the geoblocked YouTube videos that hurt. Only showing a handful of skaters on network tv. Never showing pairs of dance on network tv.
When a video hits over a million views and it's taken down.