Other Publications
Letter: Olympics on TVRI
Wed, 08/13/2008 11:04 AM | Reader's Forum
What happiness I felt when I read that state-owned television station TVRI had decided at the last moment to buy the broadcasting rights for the 2008 Olympic Games.
Although a staggering amount had to be paid, the decision would allow all Indonesian people to follow their team's achievements and share the excitement of this tournament.
In view of the large sum paid for the rights, you'd think TVRI would show as much as possible from the Olympics.
However, after several days of Olympic Games, it seems that what TVRI broadcasts is going to be minimal. All of Sunday afternoon, for example, when the Olympic Games were in full swing, TVRI was broadcasting a boxing match from several years ago.
No all-day live coverage from Beijing. Maybe TVRI does not have experience in covering sports; maybe my expectations were too high.
But I think that more sports-lovers must be truly disappointed by this. OK, understandably they cannot switch their whole program for sports only, but then please make sure that those 30-minute news updates are well-used and try to show as many sports as possible.
From what I've seen so far, half the time is used for advertisements, a quarter of the time is spent listening to the Beijing-based reporter and no sport can be seen. Often the summary of the events of the day show the ultimate winners on the podium -- not their last, say, 50 meters, winning dive or lift of whatever sports is practiced.
Hopefully TVRI will become more skilled in the art of broadcasting large sports events within the coming two weeks, so that all of us in Indonesia can enjoy this great tournament.
AGNES JOHAN
Jakarta
What's On
- Ken Pattern Art Exhibition
12/23/2008 - 01/21/2009, Four Seasons Hotel Jakarta - Theater Republik Petruk by Teater Koma (7:30 p.m.)
01/09/2009 - 01/25/2009, Graha Bhakti Budaya Taman Ismail Marzuki (GBB-TIM), Jl. Cikini Raya no. 73, Central Jakarta