2016 Worlds TV and Livestream

jcoates said:

Why is Tom Hammond back? I thought Terry Gannon was the permanent play-by-play guy now. AFAIK Hammond hasn't called skating all season and perhaps since Sochi. What gives?

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I will try to answer your question.

Terry Gannon, in addition to being NBC's lead Figure Skating play-by-play voice-is also the lead voice for NBC/Universal owned Golf Channel's coverage of LPGA Tour golf. (He also does some PGA Tour events.) This week, the LPGA has their first major, the ANA Inspiration. Since this is a major, Gannon is in California covering that event and not in Boston at the World Figure Skating Championships. If this were a "regular" event, it is very possible that Gannon would be in Boston this week. I hope this post will help clarify why Tom Hammond is doing the World Championships play-by-play this week and not Gannon.

yuzushenko said:

ill be in the US and i have no icenetwork subscription. what is the best way for me to watch live? whenever i have tried the ISU stream or cbc stream with hola, it never works. (hola did use to work last season but not anymore). i heard hola is really dangerous for your computer though so i was wondering if there was any way to bypass the geo restriction? is there a better chrome app out there that is super easy to use like hola?

i wanted to use the cbc or ISU stream but yeah..geography..TT___TT darn it nbc.

and i dont have cable either (it sucks to be a poor figure skating, i kind of get nbc on our antenna though but tbh it freezes out a lot....and since im on the west coast i think it will show everything 3 hours behind the live version

i used some really shady euronetwork ones during the grand prix season but i dont think they'll be live this time around and they give my computer viruses and the quality is just horrible

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There are VPN's, many - I haven't tried most and can't remember all of them. I use AvastVPN which works well most of the time, but it seemed to come free on my tablet. I looked it up and it's a VPN you have to pay for - on the website it says you can get a free 7 day trial though. You could try that for the week? There's also TunnelBear.

EDIT: There is also Zenmate, DotVPN that I just found doing a google search - chrome apps. I remember Browsec vpn being recommended to me once, so it clearly worked well for some people.

If you have a cable account in the US, you can stream the NBCSN broadcast live through the NBC Sports Live Extra app on your phone/tablet (you must sign in with your cable login). I think it also streams on the nbcsports website.

Also, check your cable apps to see if NBCSN can be streamed live through those. I know it works on the Xfinity app.

Winnie_20 said:

Eurovision ISU page updated with the livestream info. Not lookin' good at all, not that I expected differently.

I'm considering emigrating to the African continent.

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I'm one of the lucky few to be living in a non-geoblocked country (New Zealand). I watched 4CC livestream and it was great for the most part, except there was no commentary whatsoever. Does anyone know if there will be commentary with Eurovision ISU?
I'd love to watch some BBC coverage too!

Do we have any idea how quickly the events will be archived and available on IceNetwork? The last three groups of men that I want to watch are competing from 3 -- 6 AM where I am, and I'd love to wake up at 7 AM (an hour after competition has ended) and watch the full men's broadcast on IceNetwork on demand. Wishful thinking that it would be up and ready just an hour after that segment has concluded?

Winnie_20 said:

YES! Thank you!!! That's more like it. :thumbsup:
IIRC I have watched the RAI streams before without any problems, plus, my Italian is just good enough to sort of understand what they're saying.
Finally a real good shot at seeing those later groups during the dead of night.

But I don't understand the first thing about how the broadcasting rights work in Europe. How come RAI have the right to air so much live, even during the nights, when Eurosport also has the rights to Worlds?
And if RAI have them... what other channels in other European countries have similar arrangements? ;-)

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As far I know, the EBU has the broadcasting rights until 2019 for the European market. Italy is represented by RAI, Germany by ARD & ZDF, Finland by MTV 3, GB by the BBC and so on. In theory, those TV channels can now broadcast the sport, if they want to. Why ARD & ZDF refuse, I do not know, but based on feedback I got when I applied there was usually "it´s not interesting for our clients".

The Eurovision Sports Channel, is maintained by the EBU, that´s why they have so much figure skating there. That being said, TV channels usually demand that it is blocked as they want the viewers to watch their local channel, as they make money by selling expensive slots for commercials. Since at least a few TV channels broadcast Worlds, the whole European market is blocked, even if a country has no full coverage.

Canada and the US must buy the TV rights, directly from the ISU.

Eurosport or better put Discovery, must buy the rights from the EBU and I suppose, they don´t feel that it is necessary to cover everything, either due lack of interest by their viewers or the high price. Men are probably more expensive, than pairs or dance I guess and after midnight, they go offline too, so that they don´t broadcast then, but show commercials. It could also be that they are only allowed to broadcast x hours, only the final groups, not men ...

In the end, the whole situation in Europe is nothing else than a big joke if you ask me. I would commentate such a silly internet stream for free, just to support the sport, but not even this the TV channels want. The whole geo blocking is based on greed, as those who buy rights, want to make sure that only those who pay taxes in their country, can access it or that you can only use PC related software, within your own country, as it might be a lot cheaper to buy it somewhere else.

In 2015 there was an initiative to tear down the geo blocking in Europe, but I am unsure how far they have come.

Politicians always claim we are one big nation, Europe - but then again, we can´t even watch the TV stream from a few hundred miles away, it´s hilarious.

I checked a few local listings and British Eurosport is showing the afternoon sessions only, the BBC has coverage, not sure about other countries, but Germany for sure doesn't show a single competition, except that tiny bit on Eurosport.

They should have used the player to be honest, but I guess it´s just to costly or was forbidden by the rights holders.

I'm a bit scared looking how broadcast and streaming will be like...hopefully there will be something functioning for me for SD today after coming back from work...<praying circle mode on>

Alex D said:

In the end, the whole situation in Europe is nothing else than a big joke if you ask me.

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Yes, a big joke. Only it's not funny... :-/

Sai Bon said:

I'm one of the lucky few to be living in a non-geoblocked country (New Zealand). I watched 4CC livestream and it was great for the most part, except there was no commentary whatsoever. Does anyone know if there will be commentary with Eurovision ISU?
I'd love to watch some BBC coverage too!

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I have never heard commentary on Eurovision ISU. Check in the individual event threads for Dance SD, Mens SP, Ladies SP, Pairs SP, etc. for additional streaming links(e.g. for British Eurosport) that may not be geoblocked and have commentary.

Personally I like to watch without commentary. It's more like being at the event live. If you watch figure skating at the even no one talks over a perfomance either. And the commentators can influence your perception of the performance. For good and for bad. Anyway, I'm glad that I didn't renew my Eurosport player subscription. I will search for streams, but other than that Eurosport 1 is showing enough for me. Maybe not live, but that's understandable as it is really late here in Europe.

In Germany Einsfestival will show pairs and men on Saturday noon and pairs and ladies on Sunday noon. But that's all I could find except the Eurosport schedule. I hope I can watch the Russian stream when the competition starts ...

TAT commentary on Russian feed is usually often entertaining. She tries very hard to be impartial, always praise non-Russian skaters, give good technical insight and there is usually a healthy dose of snark and gossip but never inflammatory or biased like on most North American feeds. Of course she has her faves but in those instances she just turns off her mic for most of the time.

British Eurosport guys are also always professional.

For those who want access to many sports channels across the globe without VPNs here are few links
http://www.stream2watch.co/live-now
http://tgo-tv.com/live/sports-channels.php

thanks to all for the streaming options! Here are couple of more: http://www.ifigureskating.com/2016-isu-world-figure-skating-championships-online-streams-results/

Luna Cat said:

In Germany Einsfestival will show pairs and men on Saturday noon and pairs and ladies on Sunday noon. But that's all I could find except the Eurosport schedule. I hope I can watch the Russian stream when the competition starts ...

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Thanks for the info. I had checked their site a week or so ago and didn't find any info. I will watch this on TV for the HD-experience I won't get with the streams. But even on the website the german bias is so present I'm kind of turned off. Of course, pairs is most important, it's always about pairs. And then, who is the only skater most important in the ladies event? Ashley Wagner, who was born in Germany. Yeah...

Will russian tv be broadcasting the SD live?

cocovica said:

thanks to all for the streaming options! Here are couple of more: http://www.ifigureskating.com/2016-isu-world-figure-skating-championships-online-streams-results/

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I L-O-V-E your avatar - good, old Valse Triste times

GF2445 said:

Will russian tv be broadcasting the SD live?

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Sport 1 should be broadcasting according to the schedule I have. It's what I planned to watch, hopefully no messes at the last moment.

GF2445 said:

Will russian tv be broadcasting the SD live?

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At least two channels are doing full broadcast for every competition. First starts in 2.05 min.

If I am not mistaken, in the US the men's SP will only be shown in repeat on NBC? Is there anywhere else I can watch them live?