The Figure Skating War on Youtube

I think we are in some sort of bizarre interm period in the history of media. I remember broadcast TV with no VCRs. Then VCRs. Then DVRs with billions of cable channels. Most worthless, IMHO. Anyone ever hear of a skating channel? When the internet exploaded, I was hoping for a system where I could watch any tv show in the world on demand for a fee. No commercials. And I think that is where we are going to. For now, at least in the US, we have NBCSPORTSGOLD. But the US isnt the world. I would be perfectly content with the ISU having their OWN internet distribution, live and on demand, for a fee. World wide. Cut out the middle man. Kind of like Netflix for skating. Till then, I have to wonder if the ISU should sell the broadcast rights for a week. Then the copywrite disappears and fans can leagally post the comps to youtube without youtube getting sued. Or have the rights defer back to ISU and THEY put up the week old and longer comps on youtube. The rights to the 2016 worlds are basically worthless to NBC at this point. Skating comps are like bananas...they dont have long market appeal. Maybe broadcasters just like stomping on little people like us.
If you feel like the ISU doesnt care about you, you are correct and not alone. They care about bucks. Fast and easy. Sell the rights to Eurovision, NBC and and a handful of other networks and to heck with Brazil and Thailand.
Like I have said previously, I am a law and order person...I cheered for Kevin Costner's Elliot Ness busting the gangs even though I didint agree with probition. But for those who are denyed access because it is "inconvienent" to bring it to you, I have no problems with those who copy comps and send out DVDs or put the vids on the dark web....or have their own encrypted youtube. I also dont like the US Big Pharma monopoly very much. Follow the money and in the meantime, go ahead and find a way to put those comps on the dark web after a week....:thumbsup:

The thing that gets me is that, even if Yulia's Schindler, Jason's Riverdance, Shoma's Loco and Yuna's and Yuzu's pretty much everything gets deleted, we may lose the views and the comments but at least people will keep putting them back up. It's the not-first string and less famous skaters/skates that we may really lose in the public eye...

I mean, I have saved pretty much every competition video I can find of the small group of men I follow, even their bad ones, even their unsubbedforeignlanguageIcan'tfollowawordof ones for just that reason. Kevin Reynolds and Sergei Voronov may not get deleted (there are less videos and they are less highly visible), but if they do, they're less likely to get put back up by determined fans over and over. And I have to just hope to goodness that I don't fall in love with someone else just after they get mass-deleted all over the place.

(I also noted that the music has at times been targetted - the time it took me to find the music Yuzu based Seimei on, simply because Sony apparently rereleased the soundtrack and then started taking down all and any versions they could find...)

[email protected] said:

Yulia's SL is still there with almost 12 million views. They don't dare to remove it.

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Because the Olympic channel uploaded that one.
The problem is that they don't upload the rest and the ones uploaded by fans are getting removed because of copyright.

el henry said:

Sadly, number of views and popularity means nothing if a video is removed:sad21:

I think the original channel that showed Jason's Riverdance had 6 million views when it was closed? Maybe? Could be 8 mil.... I know it had 3.5 million views in the 10 days after US Nats.

So that one was shut down after a year, but another took its place as the primary Riverdance. Millions of views, and now I can't find that channel

So the third channel now has 2 million views, the other 800,000, etc. No way we'll ever know exactly how many views Riverdance had....

And what the heck, since it is St. Patrick's Day

Jason Brown's US Nats Riverdance

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Such Memories! You can spot skatesand and I there and probably other forum members also, but since I am a JB fan and a Riverdance fan, I have to say that was one of the most amazing performances of men's skating I have ever seen. People were moved and on their feet 7 seconds before the end. USFS put this up without comentary on their FB page...that, folks, is the definition of musicality.

I remember that, after the Olympics, so many people were looking for Mirai’s triple axel skate but it wasn’t there(or was there only briefly before being pulled).I’m sure most were not regular skating fans. It was a big missed opportunity for the ISU to pick up new fans. They should address this with their TV providers.

Nowadays, people like me don't watch TV or cable now. Any program is be be watch online. I will be delighted to see if ISU has a website or channel that broadcasts all the competitions (GP /Challengers series) especially for fans like me who lives in a country where FS is not broadcast on TV and not able to watch Eurosport now even on cable. To be honest, I will be willing to pay for any subscriptions that is required for so long I can watch them

Cyt150 said:

Nowadays, people like me don't watch TV or cable now. Any program is be be watch online. I will be delighted to see if ISU has a website or channel that broadcasts all the competitions (GP /Challengers series) especially for fans like me who lives in a country where FS is not broadcast on TV and not able to watch Eurosport now even on cable. To be honest, I will be willing to pay for any subscriptions that is required for so long I can watch them

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That is my dream...pay for over the web access. No country Left Behind. I have never paid a penny for any cable or sattalite access to the vast wasteland of TV. I donate to Public Television and if I didnt have over the air access I could watch that on line too. I think we should all get together , if you will, on the web and at one time post to ISU's FB account tthat we are unhappy with their prejudice against the fans and see how long it takes then to remove our posts. :thumbsup:
Civil disobedience!

jenaj said:

I remember that, after the Olympics, so many people were looking for Mirai’s triple axel skate but it wasn’t there(or was there only briefly before being pulled).I’m sure most were not regular skating fans. It was a big missed opportunity for the ISU to pick up new fans. They should address this with their TV providers.

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Well, there was a bit sensation in certain circles about Ivett Toth skating to AC/DC at Olympics... and of course that is not on youtube (though having this video available would break the stereotype that is all about pwetty wittle giwls in pink tutus skating to classical music...).


Lots of younger people these days do not even have TV because you can finds most things on the Internet.

I come from a country that is not skating superpower. They usually show long skates of last two or three groups of the europeans and worlds... at least it was like it back when i watched it on TV. My mom complains she wants to watch all the skating I do, but I have to provide her links, because is not that skilled with internet and does not speak English. I would pay for access to stream, because the nightmare of finding a skippy stream that dies in the middle of last group... is too much.

And I love to rewatch skates I liked (and often it's people from first groups... because they can be lovely too) and would love to be able to share links... but alas.

This recent strike took out at least four of the channels I relied on, Gutsufan, frida, Braulio, and Patinage Artistico. Three of the four are in the process of reincarnating. However, frida, who has been uploading British Eurosport since 2006 or so is still missing. She had at least 7000 videos. When we lose a channel with that many videos, it leaves a huge hole. We will probably see the older videos return first, since those are not targeted.

Tripleaxel has reincarnated several times.

The uploaders will likely create multiple channels, one or more per season, to protect themselves. Or create a channel per skater. A lot of those channels are still available. Rather than bookmark, I use the youtube search filters and have been having pretty good luck.

dorispulaski said:

This recent strike took out at least four of the channels I relied on, Gutsufan, frida, Braulio, and Patinage Artistico. Three of the four are in the process of reincarnating. However, frida, who has been uploading British Eurosport since 2006 or so is still missing. She had at least 7000 videos. When we lose a channel with that many videos, it leaves a huge hole. We will probably see the older videos return first, since those are not targeted.

Tripleaxel has reincarnated several times.

The uploaders will likely create multiple channels, one or more per season, to protect themselves. Or create a channel per skater. A lot of those channels are still available. Rather than bookmark, I use the youtube search filters and have been having pretty good luck.

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Doris, I know you are very tech savy. I hope there are others out there with collections of vids that know how to preserve them and hopefully find a way to provide the media to those who appreciate it...clearly their are many big media orgs out there who could care less.

Why doesn't the Olympic channel post all the videos? I'd love to rewatch a lot of the skates.

Jeanie19 said:

Why doesn't the Olympic channel post all the videos? I'd love to rewatch a lot of the skates.

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Well the recent Winter Universiade is on there e.g. https://www.olympicchannel.com/en/v...igure-skating-winter-universiade-krasnoyarsk/. However that's a FISU thing not ISU.

The ISU's official way of doing things is the EurovisionSports channel https://www.eurovisionsports.tv/isu/figure-skating/. However it does not appear to be streaming the World Championships, hence there's going to be no videos on there afterwards for anyone (as per the last 2 years), and if you're from a country where no one's broadcasting the championships at all you're completely stuffed as there's no official livestream, and anything on Youtube might not last very long.

I like the idea of a paid ISU channel with *all* competitions, both streamed and archived. Eurovisionsports just isn't enough, the archives are incomplete. I too would pay for an ISU channel. But, it doesn't address all problems, namely the one about recruiting new fans for the sport. The people that would pay for an ISU channel would be already existing fans, and unless they talk a friend or family member into watching with them, there's no chance of turning random general public into new skating fans. A number of people became skating fans watching Youtube videos.
Therefore, I also mightily support the idea of TV copyright holding for only a week, or a month at the most, then videos could be posted on Youtube without risk of deletion. That's the only way to recruit new fans from among people whose friends and families don't watch FS.
I agree that deleting old videos the channels (outside Japan maybe) never return to, is petty and absolutely pointless, and no money is being gained through it by the rights holders. The opposite actually, as they may lose potential new fans who would get hooked by a random video, and then pay for their channels to watch FS. The absurdity...

OT, but Youtube's sedecca is coming back too, that's a relief. I liked their videos. I hope Doris is right and the users re-upload less significant videos first. Here's one user hopefully waiting to see re-uploaded Asian Open 2018 men's ceremony and 2017 West Japan Championships... -_-

Also, paid channels, like nbc sports gold and ice network before it, tend to have full events stored and a very, very few individual performances. Furthermore, the events do not last until taken down by an eville outside agency, as they do on YouTube. Sometimes they last a year, less often 5, but when the cost of their storage exceeds the revenue they create, off they go.

Really, the ISU JGP Channel is set up ideally for fans-single vids for all skaters whose music is not verboten by the copyright powers that be, and live streaming with full event replays too. And all with a kindly, knowledgeable commentator who can find something good to say about every skater. cheer: Ted Barton )

The ISU should replicate this structure for the Challengers Series at Once!!!

Alas, the big federations that host the GPs have all sold their rights to their TV stations, so we are likely out of luck there.

dorispulaski said:

The ISU should replicate this structure for the Challengers Series at Once!!!

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That would be great.

It is crazy. USA Gymnastics has a Youtube channel where you can watch entire competitions going back to 1976.

Edwin said:

It is all about broadcasting rights, who paid for what, and who owns what as a result of these negotiations.

All of the copies, cuts and clips made by fans using 'official source material' are illegal. Some governing bodies and rights holders are more fervent in hunting and deleting illegally shared content they own the rights to than others.

Sometimes even your own fan camera clips shot from the stands are considered illegal if the host organisation has secured exclusive media rights to their events.

Often there is also a legal consideration such as protecting pre-teen children from unwanted exposure.

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I know my own video shot during the Olympic gala posted on Instagram and FB were almost immediately flagged due to "broadcast copyright." I had to fight them to stipulate it was my own camera recording. I won that fight, but I never reuploaded so I'm not sure where it ended up in the internet ether.

While we’re on this topic...I can’t find ANY youtube videos of the Pairs competition that happened just a couple hours ago. I thought maybe I could catch them before they get taken down, but no - now there’s absolutely nothing at all on the website to begin with. And the filter option isn’t even working properly. Is anyone else experiencing the same problems?

randomfan said:

While we’re on this topic...I can’t find ANY youtube videos of the Pairs competition that happened just a couple hours ago. I thought maybe I could catch them before they get taken down, but no - now there’s absolutely nothing at all on the website to begin with. And the filter option isn’t even working properly. Is anyone else experiencing the same problems?

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Yes !!!
Usually videos are avalaible really quickly
I couldn't get up to watch it but I still got up earlier to watch replays but there are not any
And yes, filters on youtube have big problems.

Pairs vids are mostly available, but not on youtube yet.

As to filters, the best choices are to go with "this week" "this month" or "this year" as appropriate, with the skater's last names for pairs and dance, full names for singles. It is sometimes useful to use names transliterated to Russian or Chinese or Korean for skaters of those nationalities. The names are in the skater's fan fests or wikipedia entries. Do not rely on event names. Recall that FP,LP, FS, and пп are all used for long programs. SP and кп for short programs.

Tarasova & Morosov's short is currently on youtube as this:

Тарасова / Морозов ВЫИГРАЛИ короткую программу - Чемпионат Мира 2019

Once you find any vid, check the channel for others.