I subscribed to Sky HD in preparation for the tournament because watching football in high definition is great. Well it is on Sky or the BBC. Three minutes into tonight's coverage on the ITV HD channel they mistakenly cut to an ad break. Somebody then realised that you're not meant to have adverts during the actual match and the screen went black as they tried to restore the live feed. I swore loudly at the TV and thought to myself, 'If we score while they're off air I'll never forgive them.' A few seconds later when coverage was restored the first thing we saw was Steven Gerrard and his team mates in celebration. Unbelievable. It's not even the first time they've missed a goal in this manner - it happened about 18 months ago in an FA Cup match between Everton and Liverpool. It was the only goal of the game. Lessons learned? Of course not. ITV are just utterly incompetent, and tonight they couldn't even offer a proper apology. The bumbling Adrian Chiles quickly mumbled something about losing pictures before sweeping it under their bulging carpet but there was nothing to acknowledge the fact that they'd missed the most important moment of the game. To make matters worse, the final three quarters of the match was broadcast in standard definition as the HD switch appeared to be flicked off.
ITV have long been clueless when it comes to broadcasting. They've been using uniform end credits for years in an attempt to form a 'brand' but it's an abysmal idea that kills creativity. Can you name a single show on ITV that's worth watching? I can't. Their news is awful, everything's awful. Someone should pull the plug once and for all. I'd seriously pay double my licence fee for more BBC channels in place of ITV's woeful garbage.
Here is the fateful moment, courtesy of YouTube.
6 comments:
You're right, Graham. ITV are spectacularly inept. Were there to be a fault - i.e. the feed simply breaking down - that would be understandable (if possibly still the result of inadequate planning), but for something like this to happen just shows ITV simply don't know what they're doing - were the adverts left on a timer, already queued up? What would be the need of that? And how were the adverts started prematurely? The whole thing requires huge ineptitude, and not merely mishap. Adverts never feature during play, so to have even the facility for it just invites unnecessary disaster, such as has now occurred. It all speaks very poorly of their processes. Remember, of course, that ITV now happens to be run by that saviour of the FA and Royal Mail both, Adam Cosier.
ITV had an admirable purpose in its conception - it provided for a series of television companies to develop programming tailored to their regions. It probably never really challenged the BBC in terms of outright quality, but provided an opportunity for a necessary and desirable adjunct in a country of 60 million people, and with several quite distinct constituent nations and regions. They appear to have completely ceased even paying lip service to that idea, so what's the point? We just end up with an particularly uninspiring commercial broadcaster parasitising certain public service roles that ITV's woefully unimaginative output leaves virtually unserved anyway.
As for HD itself, I've never bothered. I'm always just left wondering why would I want to see John Terry in even more detail?
They could have had the decency to do it during the USA's goal too...
Actually, it was worth it for the comedy value.
By the way, does it make me unpatriotic that I don't feel enthused about supporting our national team, seeing as they are a mixture of womanising, gambling-addicts and thugs (in most cases, all three)...
What does it say about our country that these excuses for footballers are what we've chosen to represent us in front of the world?
Matt - I'm glad you agree. My post was rather rushed and I could have made a more convincing case for the prosecution but you've done it for me. Thanks.
Hadleigh - I don't think it's unpatriotic but if they won us the cup I personally wouldn't care if they all had convictions for armed robbery. It's a bit like the argument against having too many foreign players at league level - I'm sure Arsenal fans didn't mind too much when they were winning with no English players. But patriotism is a strange thing to define anyway. I want England to win because I'm English but I wouldn't say I'm a patriot. I can't bear the national anthem and all the flag waving is a bit silly. I'm willing, though, to draw a distinction between the players' actions on and off the pitch. Is it any of our business anyway?
Sorry to hear that, Gray. Must have been very frustrating. Hope it doesn't happen again.
I agree with your ITV rant - they've always been amateur and bland. They are as competent as the overrated England football team. When is Capello going to use Joe Cole? Our most talented player remains glued to the bench. We'll probably still get out of this weak group but it will all end in high definition tears. Come on Brazil!
I would like to exchange links with your site grahamnunn.blogspot.com
Is this possible?
Post a Comment