Dear Editor,
The intrusion of advertisements into live cricket broadcast by the state-owed NCN television station is not a “little problem” as stated by MA Hassan in his letter captioned ‘Ads intrusive during cricket coverage,’ which appeared in your edition of Wednesday, June 24.
Rather, it is a big problem for any cricket fan, and I personally penned a missive to the press in early February, 2009 but there has been little or no improvement.
The injection of advertisements before the end of an over, especially if a wicket was taken in the fifth ball, means viewers here often do not see the over completed, especially at delicate stages of the match. Sometimes we have to guess our way in the interim when broadcast resumes in the second ball of the following over.
As stated in my previous letter “excitement is tempered by disgust” and NCN has done absolutely nothing to convince me that its broadcast of cricket is not in contempt of this cricket-loving nation.
While I previously believed that the staffers monitoring the relay may not be familiar with the game, my intuition now is that the continuity of this problem may be reflective of poor management of the television station. Probably President Jagdeo, an ardent cricket fan himself, may have to intervene so that us lesser mortals can once again enjoy live cricket on television.
While we have to accept that NCN has an obligation to its advertisers, it does absolutely no good to have over-subscription of advertisements, as I believe is the case. People will start shying away from looking at NCN and seek other avenues to view the matches. Would this be in the interest of the advertisers?
Now that the India v West Indies four-match One Day International series is scheduled to get underway at Sabina Park, Jamaica from Friday (June 26), one is hoping that good sense prevails so we can see all 600 legal deliveries (and extra deliveries) bowled in each game. This is assuming good weather and both teams going the length. Here is also hoping that GPL provides the basic support of uninterrupted power supply to all electrified areas.
I hope we are not hoping against hope.
Yours faithfully,
Mahadeo Panchu
