Media Coverage of WC racing - Streaming or TV

[Noodler]

The "Steve and Steve" show makes me want to scream every time they're on the job to call a race. They only focus on about 10% of the racers that are actually racing. The rest of the time they banter while completely ignoring the racer on the course. Drives me crazy. How about actually calling the race? They talk about MS constantly, even during the men's races. At least the English guys are actually calling each and every racer while they're racing. Imagine that...

 

[James]

Who’s the guy who did Zauchansee?

In terms of commentary, wth do you say after even 10 racers on the same course?

 

[geepers]

Who’s the guy who did Zauchansee?

In terms of commentary, wth do you say after even 10 racers on the same course?

Ed Drake commenting on Ski Austria is The Man. Solo act.

Projected excitement for each and every racer in those final turns as they cleared the forest at Zauchansee in the SG. Didn't matter if they were 2 seconds out of it - will they make up the time.... breathless excitement hard to convey in words...

Then calling Alice Robinson an Australian... at least he immediately self-corrected avoiding a diplomatic incident.

Well worth joining Ski Austria for the Austrian events if its not geo-blocked your locale - it's free.

 

[BrianB]

Like Ed Drake a lot too.

It would be very interesting to know how the economics of broadcasting ski racing in the US works. Is NBC/Peacock able to break even on ski racing? There are many people on the Skitalk forum, myself included, who express frustration with aspects of how races are presented, for instance skipping numerous racers for commercials or talking on and on about Shiffrin during the broadcast of a men’s downhill, and would prefer more focus on the actual racing and less focus on personalities or human interest, but do we represent enough viewership to make money? Not sure.

I don’t personally know anyone who is interested enough in world cup racing to seek out a race on streaming, not counting a few people from my junior racing days 30 some years ago and it is probably even a very small minority of those. Skiers I do know in my current day to day life who might potentially watch occasionally on TV even though they are not especially interested in racing would probably be much more likely to enjoy watching when there is a lot of commentary about Shiffrin (whose name they recognize) and other US ski team athletes (who are at least from the US even if they have never heard of them) and then potentially watch more races. I would prefer more of a focus on racing but NBC is probably doing what they think is the best way to broaden their audience.

 

[goweje]

I have been able to watch any race I wanted, including the Austrian ones, which has been better than some prior years.

Agree 100% and we shouldn't lose site of this. While I hate the fact that the races are sorted in the most illogical way possible, most recent races go to the end of the queue. If the race starts at 5:30 AM and you "sleep in" until 6, you can't start from the beginning you have to wait for about 2 hours after the race has concluded for the replay to become available.

But the fact remains, every minute of every race is available for $5 a month, cable not required. That's pretty cool.

 

[goweje]

Who’s the guy who did Zauchansee?

Ed Drake is a former GBR speed skier. He also does theskiracing podcast with Marcel Mathis and others. It's a solid listen if you follow WC. Ed can offer some technical insight and he's not afraid of a little silence. He also called Sölden.

 

[goweje]

They only focus on about 10% of the racers that are actually racing. The rest of the time they banter while completely ignoring the racer on the course. Drives me crazy. How about actually calling the race?

Have to say I completely disagree with this. If you're call women's slalom for instance, going back 5 years you can count the number of people who've won who aren't named Vlhova or MS on two fingers. Do you really expect them to analyze every turn as Nastasia Noens skis into 15-25th place for the seventh year in a row? In speed you can usually get up and go to the bathroom during the even numbered bibs, especially if they're out at the first split. It's not a video analysis, I think most people appreciate some context and narrative.

​

 

[Swede]

Ed Drake is a former GBR speed skier. He also does theskiracing podcast with Marcel Mathis and others. It's a solid listen if you follow WC. Ed can offer some technical insight and he's not afraid of a little silence. He also called Sölden.

Ed did some race analysing on his YT channel, but FIS wouldn't let him use the footage. We had a discussion somewhere here on Skitalk about it a year ago ... or so (?). Don't know how it turned out as I'm not up to date on his show, anyways his stuff was seriuos and insightful and was brought up as an alternative (in english) to crap that floods Youtube posted by "ski experts" obviosly not knowing much about racing. Ed is good and his podcast is fun and insightful.

 

[Teppaz]

I caught up with some biathlon on Peacock and to my surprise there was a commentator, I think Chad Salmela. First year I’ve heard biathlon commentary on Peacock, as far as I can tell. I thought he did a great job, quickly explaining the rules, the stakes, who was in shape or not, racers’ background, etc. He managed to cram in a lot of info. For a casual viewer like me, he was perfect.

Re: alpine commentators. I’m a journalist in mainstream publications and I can tell you that each article is a constant balancing act: you have to not turn off casual readers while giving more informed ones a little something to chew on. Skiing is a niche sport in the US, so covering it is tricky. I think Porino and Schlanger mostly do a good job, though I prefer Porino paired with Ligety or my fave, Miller. (Vonn, on the other hand, was not good.) And they’re miles above the Eurosport commentators I heard while in France over the Christmas break. Completely useless!

 

[goweje]

Must have been Salmela. I too have become a (very casual) fan of x-country and biathlon mostly thanks to Chad Salmela and Olympic Channel broadcasts. Salmela wrote an interesting blog piece when they reduced coverage at the end of 2020. It speaks to the situation at NBC sports broadly and is relevant to alpine as well.

A sort of partial farewell...for now...I hope

When everyone everywhere is being affected by a global pandemic, including us hunkered down in my wife's homeland, I certainly wondered how it might impact NBC’s Olympic Channel coverage of the FIS Cross Country and IBU Biathlon World Cup seasons. My coaching job was heavily impacted, as...

csalmela.wixsite.com

 

[goweje]

It was announced yesterday that NBC announcers for alpine and snowboarding will not travel to Beijing. They were the few that weren't already scheduled to work remotely. It'll be interesting to see what that means for Porino. The plan was to have Porino as the start house reporter, with Dan Hicks and Ligety in the booth. Does it become a three man booth? It's possible to do the course report, intel from coaches and athletes (he's doing that remotely for WC), but if they decide to stick with a two-man booth you have to imagine his role will be pretty limited. It was announced that Vonn will be in the mix as well, although it sounds like she'll be some kind of special correspondent rather than a booth person.

 

[Teppaz]

Must have been Salmela. I too have become a (very casual) fan of x-country and biathlon mostly thanks to Chad Salmela and Olympic Channel broadcasts. Salmela wrote an interesting blog piece when they reduced coverage at the end of 2020. It speaks to the situation at NBC sports broadly and is relevant to alpine as well.

A sort of partial farewell...for now...I hope

When everyone everywhere is being affected by a global pandemic, including us hunkered down in my wife's homeland, I certainly wondered how it might impact NBC’s Olympic Channel coverage of the FIS Cross Country and IBU Biathlon World Cup seasons. My coaching job was heavily impacted, as...

csalmela.wixsite.com

Thanks, this is an interesting article. A humble, likable perspective.

 

[James]

Salmela is great. Makes things exciting. He can get too worked up at times where he can’t enunciate words, they blend, or just drop out. He did get me watching cross country in Sochi.

Then of course there’s the “Here comes Diggins! Here comes Diggins!”

The Duluth coach behind 'Here comes Diggins!'

Maybe it's time to add Chad Salmela of Duluth to the roster of all-star Olympic announcing moments.

www.mprnews.org

 

[S.H.]

It was announced yesterday that NBC announcers for alpine and snowboarding will not travel to Beijing. They were the few that weren't already scheduled to work remotely. It'll be interesting to see what that means for Porino. The plan was to have Porino as the start house reporter, with Dan Hicks and Ligety in the booth. Does it become a three man booth? It's possible to do the course report, intel from coaches and athletes (he's doing that remotely for WC), but if they decide to stick with a two-man booth you have to imagine his role will be pretty limited. It was announced that Vonn will be in the mix as well, although it sounds like she'll be some kind of special correspondent rather than a booth person.

It's really unfortunate that we'll have to listen to Dan Hicks

 

[goweje]

Another bizarre weekend for NBC. I guess they bought the rights for the Kitzbuehel Friday DH, but dropped coverage before Giezendanner skied onto the podium (bib 43 I believe). They don't have Austrian rights and I guess they gambled and picked Friday, maybe because of the forecast. But, Sunday was definitely the better DH. It was from the top and the visibility was better. You'd think NBC would have a preference for a weekend race vs Friday AM but again I think they were thinking Sunday would be cancel because of all the snow. I thought the drone shots were cool.

Then left the remainder of the Kitzbuehel slate to Ed Drake, which was serendipitous because it was way better having a British guy call Ryding's dramatic SL win. NBC also punted on the crazy Cortina SG on Sunday where 40% of the field DNF'd and Goggia crashed out dramatically. The wasn't an international feed for Cortina, so just the sound of the skis on the surface on Peacock. Is there any rhyme or reason to what NBC is doing? Is anyone watching on the US Ski team product (skiandsnowboardlive)?

Ryding's victory might have been the best SL race we've seen since Hirscher retired. Men's SL has been so much fun this season. Strolz in Adelboden was fantastic. Braathen's record breaking run in Wengen was cool (also not NBC's finest hour, they do their intro during the first few skiers of the 2nd run. It was only after Braathen had held off about 10 skiers that they went back and showed a replay of his run).

 

[wnyskier]

Ed Drake. Best English languish commentator and not just because he called Ryding's great run at Kitz. He knows the sport, gives enough info but doesn't blather to the point of making the commentary the center of the event and not the competitors. Imagine watching the NFL and the commentators talked through each play, or worse yet, talked about other plays during the play. That's what it's like with Peacock.

I listened to Porino on The Next Turn podcast and he's nice enough and knowledgeable, but he just doesn't deliver.

 

[James]

Strolz in Adelboden was fantastic.

Yeah I agree. I keep wanting to pick him for the podium but maybe needs a little more time.

Porino is ok. Ski racing can be tedious to watch. You’ve got to say something for 30 times down the same track. And do it from a room half a world away. Plus people don’t know anything about most racers. Even Ed Drake gets a little lost for words or repetitive after the top people have gone.

Ideally, they’d have feedback and try to improve things, but there’s none likely.

In terms of football, I thought Jim Nantz with Tony Romo were pretty good last Sunday and I’m not a Nantz fan ever since his ‘98 Nagano snooze fest.

Chris Collingsworth in football never shuts up and his voice is grating. Can’t stand him.
Kevin Harlin always goes to 10 on the meter. A one yard gain and he’s shouting. His voice is grating after 10 minutes. Can’t stand him either, I hated when he had the radio broadcast.
This is his voice. These clips of him aren’t bad actually.

 

[S.H.]

Yeah I agree. I keep wanting to pick him for the podium but maybe needs a little more time.

Porino is ok. Ski racing can be tedious to watch. You’ve got to say something for 30 times down the same track. And do it from a room half a world away. Plus people don’t know anything about most racers. Even Ed Drake gets a little lost for words or repetitive after the top people have gone.

Ideally, they’d have feedback and try to improve things, but there’s none likely.

In terms of football, I thought Jim Nantz with Tony Romo were pretty good last Sunday and I’m not a Nantz fan ever since his ‘98 Nagano snooze fest.

Chris Collingsworth in football never shuts up and his voice is grating. Can’t stand him.
Kevin Harlin always goes to 10 on the meter. A one yard gain and he’s shouting. His voice is grating after 10 minutes. Can’t stand him either, I hated when he had the radio broadcast.
This is his voice. These clips of him aren’t bad actually.

Harlan is good for basketball IMO

 

[James]

This article from 2008 Skiing Heritage is nearly the same situation as today.

Skiing Heritage Journal

Skiing Heritage is a quarterly Journal of original, entertaining, and informative feature articles on skiing history. Published by the International Skiing History Association, its contents support ISHA's mission "to preserve skiing history and to increase awareness of the sport's heritage."

books.google.com

We had NBS Universal Sports, also NBCSN which has just changed their sports to USA. (Makes no sense as a brand as that has had more dramas and a little sports)

Now it’s Peacock which is subscription.
Mind boggling that a major network can have such a poorly executed platform.

 

[4ster]

Rant warning

Peacock is still the worst but it’s the best we’ve got & at least we’ve got it. I spend as much time digging to find the race I want to view as I do viewing it. A couple year’s ago when it was still NBC SportsGold Snowpass I bought one of those $50 Apple adapters so I could just plug my phone into my big screen, pretty simple & it worked great. Now Peacock doesn’t even support that! It works for the advertising at the beginning but as soon as the race comes on blank screen , so I end up watching on my phone or IPad which is less than ideal.

I look forward to the Austrian races because I can just use their app which is pretty seamless & my Apple adapter works.

https://app.skiworldcup.live/login

The other thing I like is the fact that the British announcers whether it’s Ed Drake or someone else, call the race & the run while it’s actually happening! They don’t over do it & actually allow a little silence when it’s appropriate. The American announcers tend to constantly chatter about racing & Mikaela Shiffrin & often are off on some other tangent while something amazing is happening on the course NOW!
I wonder if we hurt their feelings because they didn’t even show up for one of the women’s races last weekend & then didn’t show up till a bunch of racers had already gone in the 2nd run a couple days ago. No introduction, just started yattering in the middle of the race.
Wish I understood Italian or German because I bet those folks are awesome!

End Rant