ISU Announces Live Streaming of GP Events and ISU Championships on Youtube

[Paskud]

God, please, no commentators. I won't miss any of them.

[Sabrina]

1 hour ago, kiches said:

I suspect the YouTube stream will be geoblocked for US since NBC has the broadcast and streaming rights. Probably same for other countries that a company already has rights. 

I guess that it will be blocked for Japan Canada and the USA because I read somewhere that these countries have the right to stream the gp 

[madraykin]

Just now, Sabrina said:

I guess that it will be blocked for Japan Canada and the USA because I read somewhere that these countries have the right to stream the gp 

Possibly not Canada completely - CBC aren't showing FS this year so only Skate Canada (of the international ISU events) has TV coverage. So Canada might be able to see everything else on YouTube.

 

The original announcement about Infront Media excluded Canada, China, Japan, Korea and USA, and they've done the deal for the Nordic countries so, with the exception of Canada, I expect they'll all be blocked.

[Old Cat Lady]

1 hour ago, yuzuangel said:

Is NBC Gold streaming all GPs?

 

Yes, but they don't do the galas 

 

Last year only Skate America had the gala.  They didn't even show the worlds gala.  Skate America and Nationals were also the only events with commentary, though that's mostly a good thing.  Johnny and Tara were SOOO annoying.  

[Louitunes]

1 hour ago, Henni147 said:

 

Is the UK affected, too? I would miss Simon and Chris, also Max and Angelo and many other iconic European voices...

 

 

However. IF the ISU uploaded individual performances as 6-8 min. long YT clips like the Olympic Channel, this would be pretty effective to up the view numbers.

 

Currently we have 10-20 different uploads of the same Yuzu performance with views in the 10,000s (maybe 100,000s). Imagine how many views an official clip would have that everyone watches... I think, we could get a bunch of +1M videos, aye?

 

 

EDIT: Maybe the regio-restrictions will be a problem...

 

I'd find it absolutely incredable if UK is geoblocked as finding figure skating to watch here is like looking for a needle in a haystack.  Literally!!!!

[rockstaryuzu]

3 hours ago, madraykin said:

Possibly not Canada completely - CBC aren't showing FS this year so only Skate Canada (of the international ISU events) has TV coverage. So Canada might be able to see everything else on YouTube.

 

The original announcement about Infront Media excluded Canada, China, Japan, Korea and USA, and they've done the deal for the Nordic countries so, with the exception of Canada, I expect they'll all be blocked.

And Worlds, don't forget Worlds. Right now they only list La Presse as a media sponsor ( which is a newspaper), but surely they'll have someone broadcasting (right, ISU? Right?). Possibly CTV/ TSN, who I think have the rights for SCI too.  Or maybe the French-language sports station, I can't remember the name at the moment.

 

CBC seems like it's not going to fund figure skating coverage this year, but we'll see. 

[madraykin]

1 minute ago, rockstaryuzu said:

And Worlds, don't forget Worlds. Right now they only list La Presse as a media sponsor ( which is a newspaper), but they'll have someone broadcasting. Possibly CTV/ TSN, who I think have the rights for SCI too.  Or maybe the French-language sports station, I can't remember the name at the moment.

 

CBC seems like it's not going to fund figure skating coverage this year, but we'll see. 

From the discussions I've seen people aren't sure about whether Worlds falls into the CTV/TSN deal or not? But I did forget about Worlds, I can't be dealing with thinking about 2020 already...

 

Honestly, as pleased as I am that we've finally got an answer and will be able to watch events there are still some questions about it for me.

 

Some are the obvious ones like, will there be commentary? What about archiving? Will the videos still be uploaded to Eurovision Sports or will it just be YouTube? How are they going to deal with the copyright claims?*

 

(* I assume the same as the JGP tbh, which means the men's SP for at least IdF  and NHK and probably Europeans and Worlds is doomed from an archiving perspective)

 

There's also the side of things that we probably won't get answers to - was this always planned? It seems like they were negotiating with broadcasters up until fairly recently so is this a panic response to deals falling through?

 

How is this going to impact future attempts to monetise the streams? I can't imagine they're going to get much revenue from this* and after having a free stream I imagine there'd be an outcry at moving to a paid service unless the paid service offers a much better experience.

 

(* does the ISU actually care about monetising the broadcast, or have they already been paid from the Infront Media deal and now it's Infront's problem?)

[mercedes]

1 hour ago, madraykin said:

From the discussions I've seen people aren't sure about whether Worlds falls into the CTV/TSN deal or not? But I did forget about Worlds, I can't be dealing with thinking about 2020 already...

 

Honestly, as pleased as I am that we've finally got an answer and will be able to watch events there are still some questions about it for me.

 

Some are the obvious ones like, will there be commentary? What about archiving? Will the videos still be uploaded to Eurovision Sports or will it just be YouTube? How are they going to deal with the copyright claims?*

 

(* I assume the same as the JGP tbh, which means the men's SP for at least IdF  and NHK and probably Europeans and Worlds is doomed from an archiving perspective)

 

There's also the side of things that we probably won't get answers to - was this always planned? It seems like they were negotiating with broadcasters up until fairly recently so is this a panic response to deals falling through?

 

How is this going to impact future attempts to monetise the streams? I can't imagine they're going to get much revenue from this* and after having a free stream I imagine there'd be an outcry at moving to a paid service unless the paid service offers a much better experience.

 

(* does the ISU actually care about monetising the broadcast, or have they already been paid from the Infront Media deal and now it's Infront's problem?)

I honestly have no idea how things work but I surely wouldn't be happy to pay just because I live in a certain country....I don't remember if I read it here or on some other places but people were pretty upset and trying to get their money back.

And about archiving,latest JGP comps are all there so I assume it will be the same with Seniors?In any case one can always record and share later

 

 

[liv]

I was paying through the nose to keep my cable so that I could watch figure skating on tv... but now I"m thinking ditch the cable and upgrade my internet... I"m hopeful that CBC doesn't cut a deal so that I can get the youtube channel... we already know we'll get skate canada on tv here...

 

the only thing is, I feel badly for some older or less tech savvy viewers who just like to watch it on tv. now it will not be easy for them to access and they might not be bothered to ask someone to show them how to get to youtube...

[Figure_Frenzy]

Unless the ISU youtube channel sets up a channel membership and holds the competition streams exclusive for the members, the stream on youtube is by default free. I don't think music copystrike is that big of a potential problem either, since the competition streams (and the skaters' programs) usually remains uploaded on the channel.

So that leaves geoblocking. 

I think...vpn should solve that problem.

 

...and let's just hope the steam goes well no matter what :p

[Moria Polonius]

9 hours ago, Yuzu Strawberry Lemon said:

How?? I'd love to know how!

There is a payed streaming service where I am, but I just about fell out of my chair when I saw the price! It's like three times the price of what eurosport was...*sigh*

 

6 hours ago, tafattsbarn said:

Oh, 4.99€ for eurosport sounds like a dream, viasat is like $30 a month. Of course that includes other winter sports, but it's kind of useless when you only watch figure skating. 

 

Wow, that's expensive. I bought Eurosport on Black Friday, about €12 for the whole year. I wanted to do it again because the experience was positive and I'd have got the whole summer Olympics too. VPN, even the speedy expensive ones, sound like a better option than Viasat.

 

6 hours ago, mercedes said:

I was checking italian tv and there's no trace of FS so hopefully youtube wonìt be geoblockerd....(if it is well there's always VPN.)

I hope it's free but even if it's not i'm ready to pay the fee if it's reasonable....4,99€ for eurosport player were really good so if it's something affordable why not?

Ted come on you know we need you!

I wonder why they still didn't say the list of countries with no tv rights tho,it sounds like a last minute thing.

 

 

I don't think I can take Ted gushing about underrotated quads....

 

5 hours ago, Paskud said:

God, please, no commentators. I won't miss any of them.

 

Yeah, pretty much.

[andchipzz]

I especially hate commentaries in which the commentators explain every little things happening on TV as if you cannot watch it yourself... yuzuru hanyu on the board,  bowing to the ice, thanking the audience, brian orser jumping around--how interesting, pooh gets thrown onto the ice--amazing, I mean.... what??

[Winnie_20]

I haven't watched figure skating with commentary in years, except for a few instances when Yuzu and Shoma skated, just out of curiosity to hear what they said. Otherwise, long live the no-commentary livestreams. 

Sure hope we'll get that with youtube, too... Or at least optional no commentary. But considering the stream is accessible to the whole world, I doubt very much they'd be stupid enough to provide a single audiotrack, ie English commentary. 

 

[monchan]

This is great! I hope the streaming quality is like Finlandia/JGP (NOT ACI quality!!!). No commentary would be ideal, I don't need that service.

[4Nessie]

Ouch, it seems our TV has Skate Canada scheduled. So no Youtube for me. I am dead.

But at least, they are streaming live, which is unusual, since men are at 3 am.