Beijing 2008 on DD Sports
We all know about DD Sports. They’ve been broadcasting low quality video all over India since 1999 and their programming usually consists of deferred live sporting events from the 1980s. This might be because the channel gets as much funding as hockey in India (about Rs. 5000 per month I estimate) and can’t really afford to buy broadcasting rights to most sporting events. They usually take major broadcasters to court demanding free access to cricketing events hoping that the government will pity them and the cricket-crazy public will support them.
However I must admit that I have found the channel mildly interesting when there was nothing else on. This was mainly because they treat all sports equally and show everything from skiing to the World Rally Championship.
DD Sports is also the channel to go to for the Olympics coverage. Other sports channel cannot cancel all their regular shows to cover the Olympics full time but since DD Sports is paid for by the government and don’t really have anything else to show they decided to run the Olympics full time. They hired a few bilingual commentators and set forth to bring the 2008 Olympics to the mega-serial-watching Indian masses.
Update: I was too sleepy to complete this post yesterday. Here’s the rest.
The annoying thing about their coverage is that the anchors switch to Hindi half the time. Why are they using a language that half their viewers doesn’t understand?* I am forced to switch to some other channel when they start muttering something in Hindi.
DD is known for their incredibly dull sets for their shows. They managed to come up with something colourful for the Olympics but the quality of the production is still amateurish. Anchors are sometimes looking off to the side at the wrong camera even when they’re not caught off guard, coverage suddenly cuts to a completely different event before the current one has ended and random advertisements interrupt important finals of events.
So why do I even go to DD Sports? It’s the only channel that shows the Olympics without news marquees and logos covering half the screen like in most of the news channels that spare a few minutes to cover some of the events.
How can DD Sports improve and redeem itself? By shutting down the channel, selling the few pieces of equipment they own and donating the money to children suffering from brain damage caused by watching this show.
* Here I am assuming that only about 2 people watch DD Sports, which I feel is a reasonable estimate of their viewership.
its in their metabolic rate…metabolism…bl ah...
August 23rd, 2008 at 9:34 am
DD Sports commentary is awful. The technical team for the broadcasting especially. Once I heard the commentators arguing over who is gonna cover the 100 meter race. Then some dude realised that the entire population of India wanted to join the debate and switched off the audio.
August 23rd, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Hindu made a mockery if their telecast two days into the games.
August 23rd, 2008 at 6:07 pm
Vinny, agreed.
Adithya, link to article?
August 23rd, 2008 at 7:51 pm
http://www.hindu.com/2008/08/12/stories/2008081255131800.htm
August 23rd, 2008 at 8:00 pm
Dude, I agree with you on the ‘Boobah’ show. Its highly disturbing. Especially when the excrete glowing fluids out of their heads; also when they would push their heads into their bodies.
Disturbing stuff.
August 23rd, 2008 at 8:49 pm
DD Sports suck. Period.
Marc, what is Boobah show? and about that link, A lady is jumping on and on over a couch. Am I supposed to understand it as an online ‘game?’, however bad it may be?
August 25th, 2008 at 11:28 am
Oh crap, Vinny, I haven’t seen it before and now I’m glad I haven’t.
The anchors for the DD show don’t seem to like covering the Olympics at all. Such tired voices, such sleepy faces, such somnolence.
August 25th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
What about the farting sounds the Boobah things make when they fly around?
George, they’re just pissed off that they’ve failed in life.
And the Hindu article Adithya linked to is a good read.
August 26th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
nee oru blog vaangi unnaoda istathuku mathavanga enna ninapanga ellam paarkama un photo pottirukala………athu mathiri thaan avan evalavu kaasu koduthu irupan broadcast pandrathuku……. avan hindilum pesuvan santhilum pesuvanda….avan naatu languagela avan telecast pandranda avan istanda..
Hindi is our national language man.. namma thaanda vetkapadanum hindi theriyathathuku….. nee ennana foreign languagela sollalanu channel maathura ….
forgive me if anything i told wrongly….
August 26th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
Brilliant, dude. You are saying Hindi is our national language in Tamil using English characters!
If you respect Hindi so much why didn’t you post in Hindi?
Why do we have Tamil channels then? We can all learn Hindi and watch Hindi channels.
Your thinking is flawed.