European Figure Skating Championships 2012: viewing by iPhone

If you have an iPhone you can follow the 2012 European Figure Skating Championships in Sheffield on the  Россия 2 channel on the app Russian TV. The app has a schedule, just look for the keywords: Чемпионатов Европы (European Championships) to find out broadcast times. This is the same channel that provides the internet stream, but the iPhone viewing quality looks better. All commentary is, of course, in Russian.

The app is free but the service has a subscription cost of US 99 cents a day and will provide reminders that a subscription is due during playback.

The app may be available for iPad but iowskaters hasn’t been able to try this.

Channel Russia 2, available through the Russian TV iPhone app

European Figure Skating Championships 2012: internet stream

If you’re desperate to see the European Figure Skating Championships 2012 in Sheffield and in general despairing of the poor UK TV coverage, there is internet streaming video with Russian commentary at http://www.stream2watch.me/other/european-figure-skating-championships-2012-live-stream (click the red streaming link above the video advert, then clear the pop-up ad over the streaming video pane). The same stream is also available at http://kaban.tv/rossiya-2-online. Both streams are from the Россия 2 (Russia 2) TV channel.

European Figure Skating Championships 2012 UK TV coverage

The BBC’s live red button coverage of the 2012 European Figure Skating Championships in Sheffield begins on Thursday. There is also limited coverage on Eurosport UK. The intended schedule is:

Thursday 26 January
BBC Red Button 18:30-21:30 European Figure Skating: Pairs Free Skating (Eurosport UK has one hour of highlights at 21:00, repeated Friday at 22.15)

Friday 27 January
BBC Red Button 18:00-21:20 European Figure Skating: Ice Dance Free (Eurosport UK has 75 minutes of highlights at 21:00)

Saturday 28 January
BBC Red Button 11:55-16:00 European Figure Skating: Men Free Skating (Eurosport UK has live coverage from 14:45)
BBC Red Button 17:30-21:25 European Figure Skating: Ladies Free Skating (Eurosport UK has 75 minutes of coverage from 21:00)

Sunday 29 January
BBC2 13:00-14:30 European Skating Championships highlights
Eurosport UK has live coverage of the gala from 14:45 (the BBC has nothing).

BBC coverage details according to NISA. Times may be subject to change. Red button coverage on Freeview/terrestrial TV may be limited as other sporting events may be broadcast.

Outside the UK, the event can be watched on the ISU’s online skating pay-to-view channel: http://livemanager.eurovision.edgesuite.net/isu/pay/index.html

NISA link: http://www.iceskating.org.uk/node/5165

BBC Red Button: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tv_and_radio/5345480.stm

Eurosport: http://www.eurosport.com/

Future of ice rink “safe” says Planet Ice

Planet Ice has just announced on its IW Facebook page a restructuring that will save its rinks that are at risk from winding up orders from HMRC (see iowskaters.co.uk).

According to the company: “It has been confirmed that, following the administration of the Arena Group, Mr Mike Petrouis, previous owner of the Planet Ice brand, has been appointed to run the Planet Ice venues, safeguarding the jobs of the 400+ staff and ensuring the continuation of the businesses.

“Mike Petrouis has confirmed that the current Planet Ice senior management team, headed by Group Managing Director John Neville, will continue to operate the businesses as usual.”

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.

Planet Ice IW on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/PlanetIceIW

Threat to Planet Ice rinks

IW Radio and BBC South Today both picked up on a story run in The Sun about the threat to eight ice rinks run by Planet Ice as a result of winding up orders issued by HM Revenue and Customs.

Rinks potentially affected include the Island’s rink at Ryde, plus Basingstoke, Cardiff, Milton Keynes, Norwich, Gosport, Peterborough and Hemel Hempstead.

Coventry Skydome, another rink operated by Arena Group, is also the subject of a winding up order from HMRC, see: www.coventryobserver.co.uk.

According to The Sun, the Arena Group, which owns Planet Ice, has stated: ”The board disputes the assessment and action taken by HMRC and the likelihood is that this will be resolved within the next few days.”

However, if action by HMRC succeeds in shutting the rinks, the southern half of the UK stands to lose most of its ice skating facilities. Unite Group, the owner of Bristol ice rink, recently announced plans to redevelop the rink as student accommodation.

Links

The Sun: http://www.thesun.co.uk/ (PDF archive of report: sun_18_01_2012)

BBC News: Bristol ice rink to be turned into student flats

Bristol rink action group: www.bristolneedsarink.com

IW synchro teams prepare for Milan

IW synchronized skating teams the Wight Jewels and Wight Crystals will be heading off to Milan, Italy, in February for the 2012 Spring Cup.

The event sees the teams in action on the continent for the first time in the 2011-12 season. The Jewels will compete at junior level; the Crystals at advanced novice level. British senior champions Aura, from Lee Valley, will also skate at the event, so there should be a good crowd of UK supporters. Competition will be tough, with teams from Germany, Italy, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland and the USA also taking part.

The Spring Cup takes place on 17 to 19 February at the Palasesto Arena, Milan (Sesto San Giovanni), with the skating  beginning on Saturday 18 February.

The downside of attending the Spring Cup is that this year the IW teams won’t be at the French Cup in Rouen on 2 to 4 February. Nottingham’s Shadows (advanced novice) and Icicles (junior) will be competing there.

Official website: http://www.springcup.it

Holiday on Ice Tropicana show set to open in Brighton

Holiday on Ice returns to the south coast this week when its Tropicana show opens at the Brighton Centre. Tropicana, which features the music of Barry Manilow, is choreographed and created by former Olympic champion Robin Cousins. It runs from 13 to 29 January.

To book tickets, call 0844 847 1538 or book online at www.theticketfactory.com.

Holiday on Ice news: http://www.holidayonice.co.uk/

European Figure Skating Championships, Sheffield 2012

The 2012 ISU European Figure Skating Championships take place in Sheffield from 23 to 29 January at the 9,000 seat Motorpoint Arena.

Eurosport and the BBC are among the broadcasters with the rights to the event (see http://www.europeans2012.co.uk/news/32).

According to iSKATE magazine, the BBC’s coverage for all four disciplines will be available through the BBC’s red button service, with a highlights show on BBC2 from 13:00 to 14:30 on 29 January.

Coverage on Eurosport UK only begins on 26 January, at 9pm, with an hour-long programme. There is more extensive coverage on continental Eurosport. Eurosport UK has live coverage of the gala on 29 January from 14:45.

iSKATE has details of the TV coverage of the European championships at http://www.facebook.com/iskatemagazine.

NISA has full details of the BBC’s red button coverage  at http://www.iceskating.org.uk/node/5165.

The scheduling on both channels pretty much pushes the European championships into obscurity as far as the UK public is concerned. NISA’s details of coverage reveals that the short programmes are not going to be televised at all. Plus red button coverage on the BBC via Freeview can be limited if more than one sporting event is on; Sky subscribers get a broader selection of sports viewing options but can’t record interactive services directly on a Sky box. Eurosport UK’s coverage seems limited to highlights of the free programmes, but will have commentary from skating veterans Chris Howarth and Nicky Slater, as opposed to the BBC’s Robin Cousins and former tennis player Sue Barker.

Details about obtaining tickets for the event are at: http://europeans2012.co.uk/tickets

The schedule of events is at: http://europeans2012.co.uk/schedule

The official website is at: http://europeans2012.co.uk/

Dancing on Ice series 7

Picture copyright ITV plc

The seventh series of ITV’s Dancing on Ice gets under way on Sunday 8 January, and the participating celebrities have been revealed on the ITV website.

From the ITV programming guide:

“Phillip Schofield and Christine Bleakley present a brand new series as 15 celebrities take to the ice in a bid to be crowned Dancing on Ice Champion 2012. Ice legends Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean return as mentors to put the celebrities through their paces, and the standard will be higher than ever with tougher and more spectacular routines to test them over the next 12 weeks. Robin Cousins is joined in this series by two new judges – dance choreographer Louie Spence, and Olympic skating legend Katarina Witt. The first group of skaters perform tonight with the phone lines open for viewers to vote for their favourite. Who will be the first pair to face the dreaded skate off later tonight?”

Links:

ITV website: http://www.itv.com/dancingonice/

Dancing on Ice  on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/dancingonice

www.iowskaters.co.uk: 2011 in review

iowskaters.co.uk continues to attract interest from around the world. Our annual report for 2011, compiled by WordPress, reveals, among other information:

In 2011, there were 113 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 356 posts. There were 47 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 308mb. That’s about 4 pictures per month. For comparison, in 2010 iowskaters.co.uk made 84 posts.

This site was viewed 34,939 times in 2011. This compares with 19,812 views in 2010.

The busiest day of the year was March 12th with 1,303 views. The most popular post that day was Junior World Challenge Cup 2011 live internet broadcasts. In 2010, the top post received 297 views, and was again about the JWCC.

Click here to see the complete report.