There's usually a championships of some sort during DOI and this year it's the Europeans...in Sheffield!

http://www.europeans2012.co.uk/

As I'm a Yorkshire-dweller I've just scored myself a ticket to go along on the Saturday to watch the men's and women's free programmes. Made up!

Anyone else going along or will you be watching the BBC red button coverage instead (from Thurs-Sun)?

Red button coverage if I get the chance.

Really disappointed that Eurosport pretty much aren't covering it at all this year. I always prefer their coverage to the BBC's and they showed all of the Grand Prix series this season. Oh well at least the BBC has the red button. I will be tuning in.

Did all the skating disappear from our screens because Sky bought it up?

Nice one LL, have a great time

I'll be watching the BBC's coverage (if there is any) and will look out for someone donning a pink "Chiclet" badge

I'm going and will be there all week - even the practice sessions!

Hope you people have a great time.

I'll be watching, hopefully on Eurosport or wherever. I love it.

I have a ticket for all week and will be there as much as work can allow, commuting from Northants first few days and staying over Thursday- Sunday. Hoping I might get to Worlds in Nice as well

Oh dear, I should have read your post first.
I agree, I prefer Eurosport's coverage and I watched all the Grand Prix series for the first time. I'll have to watch on BBC.

Eurosport are showing something just pretty minimal I think they are showing Pairs Free, Free Dance, Mens Free and Ladies free and the gala but form the timings I don't' think they will be shown in full maybe top 2 flights?

Guess I will be red buttoning it. Did think about trying to get tickets but finances haven't allowed. Would be happier if Eurosport were covering though at least then you get decent coverage.

Thank you I seem to remember it was the same last year.

I am going all week too after a break of a few years (in my younger days used to travel as far as Canada 2x, Finland, Austria, Switzerland to see World & Euro Champs) - I am not surprised by the intermittent coverage by Eurosport etc as the Euros always clash with US Open & coverage gets bumped Shame I cannot tape off the red button on BBC either That being said, it is going to be a fab competition esp as Plushenko is making a come back in the men's & Joubert has been persuaded not to hang up his boots this year. That will be an interesting challenge indeed - give us a wave if we bump into one another x

I'm going on the Thursday & Friday. Would love to go for longer but finances can't stretch to that. Still will be great to see the Pairs Free & Dance Free plus the Mens & Ladies short programmes so will get to see a bit of all the comps.

Very excited for the Pairs in particular as Robin & Aliona are my favourite skaters currently competing so will be a real thrill to watch them perform live.

I am so jealous, Robin and Aliona are my favourites too, I hope they win Enjoy.

Cheers. Now it's getting closer starting to get excited.

Really hoping story of Aliona having an accident in training are overblown, I can't wait to see their new programme live, have been lucky enough to see them compete several times and they have never failed to move me. Really excited to see Volosozshar/Trankov live too and disappointed Kawaguti and Smirnov aren't' there to round off my favourite three!

Oh no - like you hope it's nothing serious, especially as they'd potentially sacrifice Euros to be fit for the worlds. Had heard that Kavaguti & Smirnov were out.

See you there alij and mandylou! Would have loved to have done the Friday as well but work won't allow...still, I tend to enjoy the singles stuff more anyway so it works out rather well for me. Adore Plushenko and Joubert so at least I'll get to see them both

Coverage on Eurosport as Follows:-

Thurs 26th - 21:00-22:00 Pairs Free
Fri 27th - 21:00-22:15 Dance Free
Sat 28th - 14:45-16:00 Mens Free & 21:00-22:15 Ladies Free
Sun 29th - 14:45-16:00 Gala

So looks lile only live coverage there is some of the Men's & part of the gala.

BBC Coverage Details:-

Thurs 26th - 18:30 BBC Red Button & Online Pairs free
Fri 27th - 18:00 Red Button & Online Dance Free
Sat 28th - 11:55 Red Button & Online Mens Free
17:30 Red Button & Online Ladies Free
Sun 29th - 13:00 BBC 2, Red Button & Online Highlights

Just to be aware i know for those of you that have freeview that sometimes Red Button streams are limited so online may be your best option if there is coverage of other events.

From that list BBC coverage looks to be more detailed even though it's online/red button most of the time. Have to say i'm a bit disappointed we are not going to get full coverage of the gala it seems. I may look into whether there's a live stream somewhere for that & also for Wednesday's short programmes too. If I find anthing I'll post the links on here.

Such a shame they haven't put any coverage on terrestrial tv - some of us still haven't got digital to get even the red button coverage. They seem to show so many other sports and this is actually happening in our country - it really annoys me that they think everybody wants to watch football/tennis/cricket etc but not ice skating.

I hope everybody going to see it live has a great time.

According to reports I've seen on Twitter Aliona Savchenko is OK. Apparantly she fell whilst they were practicing their Triple Axle throw jump. I know they've tried that in competition a couple of times this year but it hasn't quite worked. I wonder if they will attempt it next week.

Thanks for that Tiger

Do you know what they mean when they say "online coverage"? Is it basically iplayer? You just go to the homepage and there'll be somewhere to click for the skating?

Should be in the Sports section Sid. If the link isn't on home page of the sports section you should find it under Winter Sports.