I received a notice from DIRECTV.......which, of course, knows of everything that I watch on Television...and that has NEVER included football, soccer or poker! My "gift" from DIRECTV is 3 months of the sports that I would never watch.....ever!.....Why not some figure skating, ballet or theatre which I love?
It's bad enough that only a few hours of skating a year are shown live on U.S. TV, but at least we got to see snippets of an event that happened over a week ago when the cable sports networks had "Nothing Better to Broadcast"; but even that has changed now. I can understand this when comparing viewership of meaningless college football games (or poker games that happened years ago) with those at some of the world's top skating competitions. It's abundantly clear what the general public prefers, but I thought that that situation was what the plethora of "Niche" cable stations was supposed to solve. Demographics speak loudly to sponsors and that's understandable.
I fully recognize that figure skating ranks near the bottom of any "Sports Network" priorities, which are generally assumed to target young male audiences, but when "Secondary" sports networks like ESPN2 or ESPN Classic consistently advertise months in advance and include in their program guides (Including on the USFSA's website) that skating WILL be televised right up to the supposed broadcast MINUTE and then substitute a football retrospective or (Worse yet) 6 solid hours of kickboxing or other Macho competitions, it's time for the USFSA or ISU (or whomever negotiates TV rights) to rewrite their contracts. From viewing and tapeing many hours of skating programs, it appears that with the exception of State Farm, advertisers for such programming in the US are limited to the female target audience. I truly wonder how many more viewers than skating these "Last Minute" substitutions actually attract. If the answer is "Not Many" then why is it done? Since I'm not connected directly with either skating or broadcasting, I have no answer to that dilemma, but it appears to me that ABC and their wholly owned subsidiaries have made more enemies this year than "New" viewers they've gained with their unadvertised "Substitute" programs. If that's NOT the case, then I guess I'll soon have to find another spectator sport to support because promotion of competitive skating in the United States is truly on its last legs........
I fully recognize that figure skating ranks near the bottom of any "Sports Network" priorities, which are generally assumed to target young male audiences, but when "Secondary" sports networks like ESPN2 or ESPN Classic consistently advertise months in advance and include in their program guides (Including on the USFSA's website) that skating WILL be televised right up to the supposed broadcast MINUTE and then substitute a football retrospective or (Worse yet) 6 solid hours of kickboxing or other Macho competitions, it's time for the USFSA or ISU (or whomever negotiates TV rights) to rewrite their contracts. From viewing and tapeing many hours of skating programs, it appears that with the exception of State Farm, advertisers for such programming in the US are limited to the female target audience. I truly wonder how many more viewers than skating these "Last Minute" substitutions actually attract. If the answer is "Not Many" then why is it done? Since I'm not connected directly with either skating or broadcasting, I have no answer to that dilemma, but it appears to me that ABC and their wholly owned subsidiaries have made more enemies this year than "New" viewers they've gained with their unadvertised "Substitute" programs. If that's NOT the case, then I guess I'll soon have to find another spectator sport to support because promotion of competitive skating in the United States is truly on its last legs........
thanks for this snippet from another "friend" of figure skating @ ISU!
