FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, January 15th, 2015

NBC PRESENTS THREE WEEKENDS OF FIGURE SKATING – HIGHLIGHTED BY U.S. FIGURE SKATING CHAMPIONSHIPS – BEGINNING THIS SAT. AT 5 PM ET

Special One-Hour Preview Shows Featuring Athlete Interviews, Event Analysis and Competition Highlights Sat. at 5 p.m. ET & Sun. at 3 p.m. ET

Live U.S. Championships Coverage Begins Sat., Jan. 24, at 3 p.m. ET

STAMFORD, Conn. – Jan. 15, 2015 – Beginning this Saturday, Jan. 17, at 5 pm ET, NBC presents three consecutive weekends of figure skating, highlighted by live coverage of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships featuring the pairs’, ice dance, ladies’ and men’s free skate competitions. Live U.S. Figure Skating Championships coverage begins next Saturday, Jan. 24, at 3 p.m. ET and continues in primetime at 8 p.m. ET.  Live coverage on Sunday, Jan. 25 begins at 4 p.m. ET.

NBC’s coverage this weekend includes two preview programs for the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, hosted by NBC Sports Group’s lead figure skating commentary team of three-time U.S. figure skating champion Johnny Weir, 1998 Olympic gold medalist Tara Lipinski and play-by-play announcer Terry Gannon, featuring athlete profiles, event analysis and competition highlights. The first show, airing this Saturday, Jan. 17, at 5 p.m. ET, focuses on the ladies’ and ice dance events, and features interviews with 2014 Olympic team bronze medalists Ashley Wagner and Gracie Gold, and a report from 2006 Olympic ice dance silver medalist Tanith Belbin on the top ice dance teams as they prepare for the competition. Sunday’s special, airing at 3 p.m. ET, will feature the men’s and pairs’ events, including a profile of 2014 U.S. Junior champion Nathan Chen.

In addition, NBC will present the Skating Spectacular exhibition gala on Saturday, Jan. 31 at 2:30 p.m. ET.

Weir, Lipinski, Gannon and Belbin will be joined by reporter Andrea Joyce on site at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex in Greensboro, N.C., for the U.S. Figure Skating Championships next week.

NBC’s figure skating coverage (all times ET, subject to change):

Sat., Jan. 17 U.S. Figure Skating Championships Preview: Ladies, Ice Dance 5 p.m.
Sun., Jan. 18 U.S. Figure Skating Championships Preview: Men, Pairs 3 p.m.
Sat., Jan. 24 U.S. Figure Skating Championships 3 p.m.
Sat., Jan. 24 U.S. Figure Skating Championships 8 p.m.
Sun., Jan. 25 U.S. Figure Skating Championships 4 p.m.
Sat., Jan. 31 Skating Spectacular 2:30 p.m.

NBC SPORTS LIVE EXTRA

The U.S. Figure Skating Championships competition  will be streamed live on NBC Sports Live Extra via “TV Everywhere,” giving consumers additional value for their subscription service, and making high quality content available to MVPD customers both in and out of the home and on multiple platforms. NBC Sports Live Extra is available for desktops at NBCSports.com/liveextra. The NBC Sports Live Extra app is available at the App Store for iPad and iPod touch, on select devices within Google Play, and on windows phones and tablets.

–NBC SPORTS GROUP–