Re: Olympics telecast

[Npsingh123@aol.com]

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There used to be a time in India till about 14 years ago (I have been out of
there since) when it was indeed possible to see Olympics and other sport such
as cricket tests, hockey world cup etc on TV live. Commercialization of the
sports channels and depriving the average viewer is a trend exported right
here from the U.S. Here in the U.S. even after paying some 40 dollars a month
to the Cable co. it is not possible to watch Olympics, world cup soccer or
Wimbledon or even competitions thet are being played in the U.S. itself and
the American public has not really raised hell. Even when you do get to watch
something worthwhile it is interespersed with so many commercials that it is
no fun. so don't be envious of the Americans. The disease is exported from
here.

As far as not winning any medals, a friend once said that we just don't have
the spirit that makes champions otherwise how it it that Kenyans, Jamaicans,
Lithuanians, Ukranians, Hungarians and Romanians all produce more champions
than us.



In a message dated 9/28/00 1:09:59 PM Central Daylight Time, ashkaul@usa.net
writes:

<< We lose, because we deserve to lose
 Prem Panicker
 India will never produce sporting champions. We, as a nation, do not
 deserve to.

 For why? Because we, as a nation, vote geriatrics into office. We
 install, foster, perpetuate, a gerontocracy.

 And old men cannot produce young champions.

 Every so often, we ask ourselves, why oh why does the second most
 populous nation in the world fail to produce even one sporting champion?


 Wrong question. The one we should be asking ourselves is, why should we?
 Who cares for sport anyway?

 In the United States, NBC won the rights to telecast the Olympics. Given
 that the time difference between Australia and the US is around 15
 hours, NBC realised that if it relayed live, the prime time events would
 be shown late night, US time, and would thus miss out on the prime time
 audience.

 Which of course makes the commercial sponsors unhappy.

 So the NBC took a decision to delay telecast, by as much as  , 24
 hours. A decision that has sparked protests of such magnitude that on
 its website, NBC was forced to disable its email link, in order to stem
 the flow of hate mail.

 And yet, the protests continue. On a chat site just now (this is being
 written at 6 am, India time), I noticed US-based sports lovers
 attempting to coordinate a campaign whereby they flood NBC offices
 around the country with telephone calls, create a snail-mail storm
 wherein disgusted natives would write of their determination to boycott
 goods produced by any of the sponsors of Olympics telecasts in America.

 Their reasoning, as a guy by the name of Matt explained to me on the
 chat site just now, was simple -- it is because of the sponsors that
 American sports-lovers are being deprived of the greatest show on earth.
 Therefore, it is the sponsors who deserve their collective wrath.

 Now check out the scene in India. Though there were a host of channels
 bidding for telecast rights, the IOC awarded it to Prasar Bharti. The
 reason given was that Doordarshan, while not being the highest bidder
 (it never is), could ensure the maximum viewership.

 DD delivered, and how -- in a nation that crossed the one billion
 population mark and is still counting, the number of people who got to
 watch Olympic action live is, hold your breath, zero.

 Why? Because DD in its wisdom decided that the Olympics was an ideal
 money-making opportunity. And without warning, without notice (I wonder,
 was this covered under the Official Secrets Act?), converted its Sports
 feed into a pay channel.

 It was not thought necessary to alert cable operators ahead of time. It
 was not thought necessary to ensure that decoders had been made
 available (for a price, of course) to cable operators around the
 country.

 The government is like that. One day, the DD Sports Channel is showing
 you live kabbadi and dead footage from past Olympics. The next day,
 there is an electronic snowstorm on your TV screen, where the sports
 channel used to be.

 In the first day of full competition, a legend was born when 17-year-old
 Ian Thorpe effortlessly broke a world record he had set up just under
 four months ago, then came back in less than an hour and produced yet
 another incredible effort.

 We here in India, of course, know of this through hearsay.

 On the same day, badminton hope Aparna Popat lost a won game and crashed
 out in the opening round. We know that through email newsletters.

 But perhaps I am being a bit unfair here? DD did in fact send a camera
 crew all the way to Sydney to chronicle our performances. Given the
 paucity of time, the Aparna game could not be telecast, but the DD
 anchor provided us with some wonderful insight in the capsule. As the
 player walked off, head hanging, eyes blank with the awful blankness of
 shattered hopes, the DD television reporter walked up to her, stuck the
 mike under her nose, and asked, "So, Aparna, how do you feel about the
 result?"

 That is insightful coverage for you.

 I thought I had seen everything, right on day one. But this morning took
 the cake. When I turned on the TV, I was treated, on the national
 channel, at 3.30 in the morning, to the entire men's individual time
 trials event in the cycling velodrome.

 Have you ever watched one? One after the other, competitors get on their
 bikes, and go two rounds. There is none of the excitement of a race --
 the only opponent is a clock, tucked away in the corner of your
 television screen.

 Then they showed me 15 minutes of women's beach volleyball. Eye candy,
 certainly, all those babes jumping around on the sand in their
 well-filled bikinis and all that.

 But what was the point, really, of the two programmes? If the argument
 for telecasting sport is, in essence, that it serves to inspire
 wannabes, then DD picked the two sports that have zero chance of India
 ever participating. Do we have a velodrome in this country? Can any four
 women set up a net, on one of our beaches, strip down to their bikinis
 and play volleyball without, in minutes, losing their bikinis and much
 more besides?

 Okay, call that a crib. At least they were showing something, right?

 So, at 5.29 in the morning, precisely, the beach volleyball images
 vanished, to be replaced by a clock. The digits ticked down, to the 5.30
 mark. While we here in the Rediff office pulled up our chairs, and
 settled down to watch the live telecast of India's first Olympic hockey
 fixture.

 Hockey is our national game, right?

 So, at 5.30 sharp, we got Bhajans! Very uplifting it was, too -- I felt
 considerably more purified in spirit, after that.

 Then we got Gyan Dharshan. Made perfect sense -- having first elevated
 me to a high moral plane, DD was ensuring that I did not lag behind
 intellectually either.

 First spiritually uplifted, then intellectually stimulated, I wondered
 -- what next? I should have known -- it was Entertainment! Brought to me
 by that other official body -- the National Films Development
 Corporation.

 Rangoli, the programme was called. It featured -- at least, the part I
 watched before I finally shut the screen down in sheer disgust -- Dimple
 Kapadia talking of her screen experiences, interspersed with song clips
 from Sagar.

 How many years ago did Sagar hit the marquee? When did Dimple last act?

 Who cares? Not DD, which was hell bent on entertaining the hell out of
 me.

 Meanwhile, India took the field. And blanked Argentina 3-0. To follow
 that game (unlike DD, we are in the news business), we had to call up
 colleagues and contacts in Australia and keep the phone line open while
 they talked us through it all.

 For which we are duly grateful to the Indian government. I mean, if our
 pace in communications matched our speed in other areas, we would be
 sending inland letters (brought to you by the Post and Telegraph
 department, amen!) still.

 The Olympics is into its second day, today. Have you, till date, heard
 either the Information and Broadcasting minister, or the Sports
 Minister, or the Home Minister, or in fact any minister at all, offer up
 a single word of explanation (never mind apology) to a country
 completely, utterly, deprived of the greatest show on earth? A show,
 mind you, that we have telecast rights gifted to us for?

 Worse -- have you heard of any citizen's body, anywhere in this country,
 staging a protest, a demonstration, a dharna? Have you heard even the
 faintest murmur of protest? From anyone, anywhere?

 That sums up our sports ethos, ladies and gents. We have none. Not the
 government, nor the people.

 If we had even the slightest interest in sport, we as a nation would by
 now have made things searingly hot for the government, and forced it to
 act.

 Is there a solution? Of course there is -- assuming that anyone wants to
 solve it. Right now, DD Sport is shut down because it is encrypted. So
 how long does it take to reverse the process, and stream live,
 unencrypted images, again?

 Will that not cause financial loss, could be the next question.

 Is a blank screen -- which is what DD Sports is now -- financially
 profitable? Is showing Dimple Kapadia's reminiscences on national
 television financially profitable, anyway?

 There is a huge argument in favour of immediate de-encryption, or
 whatever the right word is for the reverse process. DD won the rights
 from the IOC on the premise that it would make the Games available to
 people all over the country. And the bulk of our population resides in
 the small towns and villages. By the time the decoders -- if they ever
 materialise -- are supplied to the small-time operators in our
 hinterland, Athens  04 would probably be into its final day. So, if the
 government wants to live up to its promise, it needs to de-encrypt, and
 show the Games, free, now.

 Will they? Will they, hell! Why should they, when we have through our
 silence and apathy so clearly shown that we don't care?

 But let me not paint a completely dismal picture -- there is hope on the
 horizon. The cable operators and the government are both desirous of
 solving the impasse. Therefore, they have decided to have a meeting to
 find ways to solve the problem.

 That decision -- to have a meeting -- was taken on Friday.
 Unfortunately, the next two days are Saturday and Sunday. You don't
 expect governments to work, and ministers to attend meetings, over the
 weekend, do you? After five days of intensely draining work running this
 vast and wonderful country of ours, they are entitled to their weekends
 off, aren't they?

 Shouldn't they be allowed, for just two days in the week, to put their
 feet up and, like me, watch Rangoli on DD while the world thrills to the
 Olympics?

 So the meeting will take place on Monday. If the ministers and cable
 operators can fix a time when they are both free, that is....

 Which is not to say that our government has been completely idle over
 the weekend. Realising that cable operators might tune in to
 neighbouring channels (like Pakistan Televison, for instance) that are
 showing at least part of the Games live, the government moved swiftly.

 Thus, on the national channel, every 15 minutes, there is an
 announcement being flashed. It says that Doordarshan has acquired all
 rights to telecast the Games. That as per the Cable and Television
 Network Regulatory Act of 1995, only DD's signals may be shown. And that
 any violation will be prosecuted.

 It does not specifically spell out the death penalty, but it is implicit
 in that weighty warning, carried in bold white type over a black
 background.

 Ever heard of the dog in the manger? Which would neither eat the straw,
 nor let the hungry cow eat it?

 Tell me -- if this is the priority we give to sports, what incentive is
 there for any young kid out there to take to the field of play?

 He would much rather run away to Bombay and try to become a film star --
 at least then, they show you on Rangoli, five years after you have
 retired.

 You know what? We are losers at sport, for only one reason -- because we
 deserve nothing better.


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