Skating on thin ice

Torvill and Dean left the British public with an ineradicable love of figure skating. Wrong, actually.

Less than 10 years after T & D delivered the BBC a record television audience of 23.9 million at the 1994 Winter Olympics, the sport is in danger of dropping off the Beeb's radar.

They have decided not to show any of the European championships, which start tomorrow in Malmo, because the event has lost 60 per cent of its viewers over the past five years. 'We have decided to concentrate on the world championships,' says a spokeswoman.

That's concentrate as in a grand total of two hours from the world event in Washington in March.

Those of us who still yearn for the thrill of those sequinned outfits flitting about on the cold stuff will have to turn to British Eurospsort for our thrills.

Cricket fans without Sky who want to watch the World Cup still do not know whether it will be possible - and any arrangement with Channel 4 is likely to be left until the last minute.

Sky have the TV rights to the tournament, which starts in Cape Town on 9 February, and will show matches exclusively live. Channel 4, meanwhile, have made Sky an offer for the highlights, but because they say they are not that interested in the one-day game they have not dug particularly deep.

Now Sky must decide whether they are prepared to let the highlights go for a knock-down price - and will be in no hurry to make up their minds.

Celtic are the latest beneficiaries of the fancy prices shelled out by German television for club football matches.

Just as Fulham were when they drew Hertha Berlin in the third round of the Uefa Cup, Celtic will be paid a massive fee by ARD for the home leg of their fourth-round tie against Stuttgart on 20 February. Fulham collected close to £1 million for the match against Hertha at Loftus Road last month and Celtic will receive nearly as much for Stuttgart's visit, which will also be shown on BBC Scotland.