NBC and NBCSN air the 2015 ISU Grand Prix Series Skate America from Oct. 24-25 in Milwaukee, Wis. 2014 U.S. champions Gracie Gold and Jason Brown will compete, as will Russia’s Yulia Lipnitskaya and Kazakhstan’s Denis Ten.
NBC airs the ladies’ free skate live on Saturday, Oct. 24, beginning at 5pm ET. NBCSN airs the men’s free skate Sunday at 10pm ET. Johnny Weir, Tara Lipinski, Terry Gannon, Tracy Wilson and Andrea Joyce are the NBC Sports broadcast team.
NBC Sports coverage will also air simultaneously on NBC Sports Live Extra. Additional live and on demand Skate America coverage is available online via subscription to IceNetwork.com.
Full Skate America TV press release from the NBC Sports Group below:
2015 PROGRESSIVE SKATE AMERICA LIVE ON NBC THIS SAT., OCT. 24 AT 5 P.M. ET
Continuing Coverage Sunday at 10 p.m. ET on NBCSN
Johnny Weir, Tara Lipinski & Terry Gannon Host
Coverage Features Olympians and Top International Competitors
STAMFORD, Conn. – October 21, 2015 – NBC presents live coverage of 2015 Progressive Skate America this Saturday, Oct. 24, at 5 p.m. ET featuring the ladies free skate competition from UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena in Milwaukee, Wisc. NBCSN will provide continuing coverage at 10 p.m. ET on Sunday, Oct. 25, including the men’s free skate.
Eighteen U.S. athletes will compete at 2015 Progressive Skate America, led by 2014 Sochi Olympians Gracie Gold, the 2014 U.S. champion, and reigning U.S champion and Skate America silver medalist Jason Brown.
The international field features 2014 Olympic team gold medalist and 2014 World silver medalist Yulia Lipnitskaya of Russia; and 2014 Olympic and 2015 World bronze medalist Denis Ten of Kazakhstan.
COMMENTATORS: NBC’s lead figure skating broadcast team of three-time U.S. figure skating champion Johnny Weir, 1998 Olympic gold medalist Tara Lipinski, and play-by-play announcer Terry Gannon will handle coverage alongside Tracy Wilson and Andrea Joyce.
Skate America is the first event of the 2015 International Skating Union (ISU) Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series. The Grand Prix Series, now in its 21st season, consists of six international events in a cumulative point-scoring format. Approximately 300 athletes from 30 countries are expected to participate in the series. Each athlete is eligible to score points in up to two of the six scheduled events. The top six point-earners in each discipline qualify for the 2015 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final, set for Dec. 10-13, in Barcelona, Spain.
TARA AND JOHNNY ARE OBNOXIOUS. ARE YOU LISTENING??? People who love skating absolutely don’t need CRITICISM of every little action. Dick Button was irritating…NOW THEIR ARE TWO! They seem to feel they need to analyze everything and it is to a fault. It is negative and arrogant of them to feel they need to let the world know THEY always know what other people do. ‘She seems a little bit too in her head’…comment by TARA just now. How in the hell does Tara know…This is ruining this fantastic SPECTATOR SPORT…Keep your narrative of ‘how to skate’ to yourselves…Most of us who watch…already know what we want to know. THEY NEGATIVELY ELABORATE on each skater which is SO ANNOYING!
Tara and Johnny talk too much and seem to be very negative and disrespectful towards the skaters. Scott Hamilton was great in being able to express feelings in a positive way and was very helpful with his comments.
Tara and Johnny please stay quiet for a few minutes. You’re worse than Dick Button with his negativity… The “arm over the head” is a “tano”.
I love to watch figure skating but not when the commentators talk through most of the performance. Not being able to hear the music really deters from performance and is disrespectful to the skaters. Wise up Johnny and Tara. Hope NBC cares about what the viewers think.
can’t you control the commentary by those hosts? their mouths run constantly and I find it extremely annoying. I don’t care what they “think” I sit here and yell shut up at the TV
I love Tara and Johnny! Been a fan of figure skating since childhood. What I can’t stand is how little of the events we get to see on NBC. Don’t they get that figure skating fans are interested in it as an international sport? So much attention goes to the U.S. skaters, and we don’t even know who so many of the others are. Also, why only the Ladies at Skate America? What happened to the men, the ice dancers, the pairs? We just don’t get to see them?
I enjoy figure skating, I remember when Dick Button and Peggy Fleming were commentating. They especially Peggy was very professional. Dick sometimes was a little rough around the edges but they were great. Tara and Johnny are okay. I wish Figure Skating was televised more often, they don’t televise as much as they used to. Luckily my phone tells me mostly what I’ve missed. Now only the Nationals and world championships get plenty of airtime. It’s disappointing the the other events aren’t shown more.
Wish you would go back to Scott Hamilton as commentator. He skated rings around Tara & Johnny. Tara & Johnny make it all about them. They always show off their outfits like we care what they wearing.
It’s so difficult to enjoy figure skating with NBC broadcasts. I can tolerate Tara but Johnny Weir is too much. Too campy, unprofessional, and obsessed with Russian skaters. He thinks being flamboyant is inviting but it comes across as immature. I mute it whenever the skaters compete but I just wait and watch other broadcasts from different countries.
Thank you so much for extending your overall coverage of Figure skating on to NBC Sports Network.
I loved the Olympic coverage with Johnny & Tara. I intend to watch(DVR) it all. I hope you are also broadcasting extended coverage of National’s and World’s. Of course Europeans and 4 Continents would be great too.
Sure wish you had changed commentators. I know you received a lot of complaints about their negativity.