DD failed as CWG broadcaster; didn't live up to the expectations

[Jigneshg]

Sweating hard for nearly a year for the grand telecast of Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony, the official broadcaster for the event Doordarshan disappointed viewers in its first High definition telecast of the ceremony.

Doordarshan had pulled its socks nearly a year back for the world class transmission of the Commonwealth games extravagant opening ceremony. The ceremony's success was also vital from the point of country's image and stature in front of the whole world.

Now that the flamboyant success of the ceremony has slammed the critics, DD is facing the same condemnation not only by the media but also from the common viewers. Ill-timed advertisements popping up suddenly during an important event irritated viewers the most. The sudden explosion of property ads and tourism promoting ads from Andhra Pradesh CM K. Rosiah were just too hard to hold patience.

The biggest setback was the 55 mins delay of the broadcast compared to SIS LIVE's transmission (DD's broadcast partner of CWG in UK) which led many viewers baffeled. Due to this telecast delay, people of the host country lacked behind the world in viewing of their own ceremony. We, the people of India finished watching the ceremony almost an hour later the whole world was done with the enjoyment.

Moreover, the mingled commentary of Hindi and English commentators confused viewers in making out the exact details of the performances, raising questions on both the sincerity of them towards the event and the selection procedure. Advertisements capturing nearly two third of the screen space while the proceedings of the ceremony annoyed viewers like anything.

All these loopholes have once again erected a platform for pointing out fingers on the ability of Doordarshan as a broadcaster for such a big event. Moreover, inefficiency of its employees intoxicated with the venom of bureaucracy has surfaced in media.

People who take DD on target due to its rigid bureaucratic approach, old formats and treatment of programming have been bestowed with a chance of doing the same, with these chinks in the armor of public broadcaster.

Source:

DD failed as CWG broadcaster; didn't live up to the expectations

 

[sanjay0864]

Undoubtedly DD has totally failed it's viewers and the nation. This is specially more so in it's role as a non profit, state owned, public broadcaster. Not only did they fail on technical grounds, what with bad audio issues and also quite poor commentary. Although on the commentary front it was pretty much on the lines of their historical ineptness, the distorted audio was a new technical low, for even them. But what was most shocking and inexcusable, was the blatant greed exhibited in the numerous and lengthy advertisements breaks. Even worse were the totally obnoxious, pop-up ads taking up almost 2/3rd of the screen during the telecast of the actual event. Shame on you Doordarshan. The broadcast ministry must be asked for an official explanation and it must be made to initiate action against the senior management of 'Prasar Bharti' for the worst ever coverage of a nationaly important event.

PS: The Andhra Pradesh CM, K. Rosiah must also be publicly censured for his state's role in destroying the 'opening ceremony' viewing experience for the entire country. The same applies to the chairman of 'Punjab National Bank'.

 

[gobble]

Undoubtedly DD has totally failed it's viewers and the nation. This is specially more so in it's role as a non profit, state owned, public broadcaster. Not only did they fail on technical grounds, what with bad audio issues and also quite poor commentary. Although on the commentary front it was pretty much on the lines of their historical ineptness, the distorted audio was a new technical low, for even them. But what was most shocking and inexcusable, was the blatant greed exhibited in the numerous and lengthy advertisements breaks. Even worse were the totally obnoxious, pop-up ads taking up almost 2/3rd of the screen during the telecast of the actual event. Shame on you Doordarshan. The broadcast ministry must be asked for an official explanation and it must be made to initiate action against the senior management of 'Prasar Bharti' for the worst ever coverage of a nationaly important event.

PS: The Andhra Pradesh CM, K. Rosiah must also be publicly censured for his state's role in destroying the 'opening ceremony' viewing experience for the entire country. The same applies to the chairman of 'Punjab National Bank'.

Advertising was the prime motivator for me to quit TV and magazines a decade back. The way to stop feeling piste is to not let it matter anymore ...

Cheers

 

[maniac_2004]

Advertising was the prime motivator for me to quit TV and magazines a decade back. The way to stop feeling piste is to not let it matter anymore ...

Cheers

wht do you do then .. listen to music and movies instead of TV ?gimme some tips as i too want to remove this from my routine

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

wht do you do then .. listen to music and movies instead of TV

My answer to that is... the internet! Social life, entertainment and information

I turned on the TV, for the first time in months, to watch this event. I thought I would be OK with DD, and not have to glimpse a tiny picture amidst all the rolling banners and flashing thingies telling me everything from the stark market to the presenter's body temperature. Well, they didn't have that stuff, true, but they had everything else mentioned. The length of the commercial breaks, at times, seemed to be as much as the content.

This Brit doesn't often miss watching stuff on the BBC, where, although we have idiot dancing-around presenters who can't even speak their native language fluently, we have no commercial advertising whatsoever. Last night made the BBC seem like bliss!

 

[Cybersurfer]

<snipped>
we have no commercial advertising whatsoever. Last night made the BBC seem like bliss!

That's because BBC's work is funded principally by the annual television licence fee. I don't think that model will work in India.

 

[Dushie]

Felt sad watching the CWG, one advantage of watching live telecast on HD is no ads, but DD HD broke the norm and there were so many breaks that i got fed up and started to watch other channels duing ad breaks as they were pretty long.

 

[sanjay0864]

That's because BBC's work is funded principally by the annual television licence fee. I don't think that model will work in India.

Doordarshan too is funded by our tax money or at the least is covered by our taxes. In any case, there is such a thing as maintaining a balance. Also, I guarantee I could raise more revenue for Doordarshan than they currently do and at the same time not earn the ire of the very 'public', that Doordarshan exists to serve.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

BBC is funded specifically by the fact that any person (household) with a TV, in UK, has to buy an annual licence, and that is even if they are paying substantial amounts to satellite providers like Sky. It is a substantial amount, but with the "freeview" digital channels that one then has access to with just an aerial on the roof (no other connection), and comparing the buying power of the Rp in India against the in UK, it is probably not such a bad deal

 

[gobble]

wht do you do then .. listen to music and movies instead of TV ?gimme some tips as i too want to remove this from my routine

Listen to music, read, surf the net can keep you occupied for your entire free time. Try it.

Cheers

 

[heynownow]

Well at the end of the day, it was a free hd channel, without additional topups or pay-per-view mode. So all said and done, even though it was disappointing, it was tolerable.

 

[Cybersurfer]

Doordarshan too is funded by our tax money or at the least is covered by our taxes. In any case, there is such a thing as maintaining a balance. Also, I guarantee I could raise more revenue for Doordarshan than they currently do and at the same time not earn the ire of the very 'public', that Doordarshan exists to serve.

Yep a line should have been drawn. The ads went overboard. The pip ads should have never been allowed that too on the flagship channel for the games. The most horrible was those AP ads plastered with crappy graphics and blurred photos of their CM, he should be ashamed. May be this was DD trying to get their revenues above their projected operating expenses of Rs 1300 cr this year.