Opening Ceremony spoilt by commercial breaks

[hertfordshire_lad]

While the Opening Ceremony was clearly one of the most spectacular events ever staged, I felt the coverage by Mediacorp left a lot to be desired.

My main gripe is that there were far too many commercial breaks and all of them came without warning. No theme tune or anything to suggest we will be leaving the action for a moment or returning to it for that matter.

Being British it was difficult to accept that Mediacorp chose to have a break when the Great Britain team started their parade.

I also find it strange that they had 3 presenters at the start (in a studio - trying to read autocue in a very unnatural way) but never returned to that studio at the end.

In fact, they were far to quick to end the coverage as they missed out the fireworks finale in favour of broadcasting the news (ironic that the number one story on the news should be the Opening Ceremony)...why not just complete the coverage of the event, then show the news???

I am puzzled by this unprofessional attitude to broadcasting. Does anyone feel the same way?

[ScoobyDoes]

Hence, at the very first break i switched back to StarHub who i think have the main contract for showing the games. At the start of the MediaCorp presentation you would have seen that it was "being brought to you by StarHub."

The fact that a) MediaCorp is funded by adverts and b) it is playing second fiddle to StarHub means the viewer will get screwed.

Unfortunately we cannot expect a channel financed by adverts to not take a break in 4hrs. As a Brit you might remember the uproar us viewers made when Formula 1 left the BBC to ITV, for this same reason.

[hertfordshire_lad]

thanks for the tip...I didnt realise Starhub had coverage.

I still find it strange that Channel 5 would just go to a break without a warning. Of course, I expect a few breaks in a 4 hour show, but at least cut back to the studio and warn the viewer. Even with breaks in F1 (which I still find annoying) there's a warning (on both Star Sports and ITV).

Incidentally, it was quite noticable that there were fewer breaks during the NDP coverage this evening.

[ScoobyDoes]

Incidentally, it was quite noticable that there were fewer breaks during the NDP coverage this evening.

MediaCorp don't have to pay anybody to get coverage of the NDP, its theirs by right. For the Olympics i would say they have to pay StarHub and as a result have to get more income from adverts to cover it.

[Bafana]

Starhubs coverage of the opening was great and continues to be good.

[bruinbear]

thanks for the tip...I didnt realise Starhub had coverage.

I still find it strange that Channel 5 would just go to a break without a warning. Of course, I expect a few breaks in a 4 hour show, but at least cut back to the studio and warn the viewer. Even with breaks in F1 (which I still find annoying) there's a warning (on both Star Sports and ITV).

Incidentally, it was quite noticable that there were fewer breaks during the NDP coverage this evening.

Cutting back to the studio would take precious seconds. They just didn't have a good game plan.

[durain]

adverts are their rice bowl, so i guessed for them, the more the better!