The problem

Tonight I've been preparing for my Skate Canada write-ups. These days, how I've been doing that is viewing the performances missing from the American broadcasts on YouTube, and then reading news articles. I'm also beginning my edits from the SC broadcast on ESPN over the weekend, and it's given some things to think about.

I'm deeply disappointed in NBC's broadcast of Skate America two weeks ago; it differed very little from the sub par broadcasts on ABC. Both networks show individual performances, probably a result of our celebrity-crazed American culture. One of the ways that attending the Nationals last year spoiled me was it was the first time that I saw an entire skating competition. As a result, I was able to see it as a whole, with connecting issues and themes.

I believe that may be why the American broadcasts are so dissatisfying. There are two examples of this that I can think of off the top of my head. The first happened last season, at the 2006 Skate Canada. Stephan Lambiel came from seventh after his short program to win the gold. He had taken off his costume because he wasn't expecting to have to stand on the medals podium and had to rush out of the stands to change.

Of course, that wasn't something that I learned from the ESPN broadcast; it was from the Canadian broadcast shown on YouTube.



The other example is something that happened at this year's Skate Canada. ESPN failed to broadcast any of the Dance performances, and as a result, I didn't know about Gregory and Petukhov's fall during the warm-up for the free dance. I had to find out about it on YouTube as well. ESPN didn't broadcast it, so it's as if it didn't happen.



The ironic thing is that watching figure skating on YouTube, which presents short, individual performances, gives one a more complete picture of what happens in the competitions. And most of the time, they're aren't even in a language I comprehend.

I've come to the conclusion that one of the problems with how figure skating is broadcast in the U.S. has to do with the disjointed way the competitions are presented. They don't tell the viewers the story of the competitions. They focus on each performance and on each skater. That's most evident in those silly "fluff pieces" on ABC.

I was hoping that NBC would do a better job, but from their broadcast of Skate America, it doesn't look like it will. I'll withhold complete judgment until after the Nationals. In the meantime, it looks like I'm going to have to depend more on YouTube to get a more complete picture of figure skating competitions.