SLAM! Sports
SLAM! Skating
SLAM! Stojko
COLUMNS
REVIEW
INTERACTIVE
ALSO ON SLAM!
Skating still a TV ratings winner
No sports event, outside of the world championships, is guaranteed to bring the network better ratings, year in and year out. It's a safe bet to happen again this week, when the nationals return to the Civic Centre.
"The ratings (we get) show people are really interested in the Canadian championships," said Scott Moore, the CTV Sports Group's vice-president of production. "We get great ratings for this, even better than we get for Skate Canada. People just like being able to watch Canadians doing well in this sport ... it's a fun event for us, too.
"We really treat this as a big event. For the majority of figure skaters in Canada, this is their Olympics, and we treat it that way."
In this case, at least, the numbers don't lie. Last November, CTV's coverage of the men's final at Skate Canada, which included perennial top draw Elvis Stojko, won the Saturday night ratings war against CBC's Hockey Night in Canada. It's no small victory, considering HNIC is enjoying a ratings renaissance this season.
CTV is counting on Stojko and popular ice dancers Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz to propel the network to another strong performance. Its four prime-time shows, starting Thursday, figure to attract average audiences of close to 1.5-million viewers.
This year, the network is adding the resources of its new regional CTV Sportsnet into its coverage plans. A two-hour show, spotlighting junior and novice skaters for the first time, will air Saturday at 7 p.m.
Sportsnet has been filling most of its Saturday nights with figure skating since it launched last October. The skating programs, featuring mostly taped Grand Prix series events, have been averaging a solid 200,000-250,000 viewers.
Moore said viewers of this week's nationals can count on event coverage well-spiced with features and profiles. Among the feature subjects in the works is Smiths Falls native Jeff Langdon, who Moore calls "the forgotten man" of Canadian men's skating.
The familiar team of Rod Black and analyst Barb Underhill will handle the commentary during the network's eight hours of coverage, and Ice Time host Debbi Wilkes is again CTV's prime reporter.
There's one slight change, in the host's chair. With Rob Faulds tied up with curling commitments, Tracy Wilson returns to the network's Canadian championships team for the first time in several years. Besides being the host, she'll handle the ice dance analyst duties she's taken on for the network at the last three world championships.
Moore said CTV is fortunate in that "there are compelling stories in all four events this year," which should play itself into some good television. The network uses seven cameras to provide the pictures for its commentators, including the familiar crane in one corner of the rink.
"Our commentators have gotten to the point where they tell stories very well," he said. "They don't overtalk it, like some other networks do."