ROBINSON'S BLOG

Want to watch the World Cup? Speak up!

Nov. 15, 2010     ►

By Chris Robinson, S-Media

This past week I was asked on a few occasions if the World Cup slalom races in Levi would be televised. My answer, sadly, was no, not in Canada.

The fact is that snowsports in Canada are grossly under-televised. Why is this? Everyone who is an alpine, freestyle, snowboard or cross-country fan wants to see the World Cups on TV. What is not well understood is the complicated business model around televising 'b' sports in a country like Canada that often involves buying the time on the TV network to get the events on the air.

PREVIOUS BLOG: Skiing: An Art, a Technique

As a producer who has worked in this area for many years, this is not new. It is a fact of life that we skiers believe our sport should be in demand and therefore worthy of prime-time TV coverage. However, this just isn't the case. Skiing on TV makes little if any money for anyone, so getting the airtime is tough. Yes, it's true, poker and darts are better for the TV business than skiing!

The average World Cup event on TV attracts somewhere between 50,000 and 150,000 viewers. These are actually not bad numbers, but in the overall scope of the TV business they are not convincing ratings that get advertisers lining up to buy commercial spots. This is still the primary revenue source in the TV biz, and without someone to pay, it just doesn't work.

So, would you pay to see your races on TV? If we were in the U.S., this would be easy. Universal Sports streams races on its website, and you can sign up for the full season of racing for about $20. However, due to the way TV rights are sold for World Cup skiing, everything outside of the U.S. is geo-blocked. ... In other words, if you are not in the U.S., you can't even pay to watch World Cup skiing.

In all fairness, Rogers Sportsnet and CBC do carry a full schedule of skiing throughout the season, and between the two networks you can watch most of the races. But for the early season events like Solden and Levi, there isn't a Canadian carrier.

CLICK ON THE POLL ICON, AND VOTE IN THE POLL LOCATED ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE S-MEDIA HOME PAGE

How can we change this? The answer is to speak loudly and be heard by the TV networks! Let them know that you are out there and willing to watch. They can take these passionate pleas to their advertisers and, just maybe, more races will show up on TV. I'm going to ask you to put your money where your mouth is and vote in the poll on our website this week. Would you be willing to “pay per view” for World Cup skiing on TV? If enough of you tell us YES, we'll take this to the networks and see what we can do!

S-Magazine