Most viewers chose to watch Big Boss 4 over the opening ceremony of the Games

How DD ruined this spectacular show

Most viewers chose to watch Big Boss 4 over the opening ceremony of the Games

"And now I declare the Games open" ufffd Amul doodh peeta hai India. "Welcome to India, Welcome to Games" ufffd. ye kaun sa TV hai. "A big congratulation to Organising Committee" ufffd Isi liye apko milta hai free ATM.
This is how the national broadcaster Doordarshan telecast 'live' the spectacular opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games 2010.
u00a0

Games interrupted! The Jawharlal Nehru Stadium was all decked up for
the Opening Ceremony of the Commonwealth Games on Sunday.
The Aerostat balloon that created controversies several times in
the run up to the event, was a big hit.u00a0 pic/Rajeev tyagi

Speeches of dignitaries, including President Pratibha Patil, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Commonwealth Games Federation President Mike Fennell were punctuated with advertisement breaks.

Enthralling performances by artistes from across India were cut off by commercials and, worse, tedious commentators ensured that viewers switched to Bigg Boss 4 on Colors.

Viewers and netizens alike cursed the national broadcaster for putting up a pathetic show of a stunning ceremony. Moreover, what was supposed to be a 'live' coverage of the event, reached the audience about 40 minutes late. Minute-by-minute news updates on Internet showed how Doordarshan duped its viewers.

Irate viewers
"Doordarshan took over from where Suresh Kalmadi left off. While preparations for the Commonwealth Games were botched up by the Organising Committee chairman, the final spectacle was ruined by the national broadcaster with ad breaks and the worst possible commentary," said Shreya Upadhyay, an MPhil student of Jawaharlal Nehru University.

"We could not get passes to watch the opening ceremony live and were eagerly waiting for the TV show. It was unbelievable how Doordarshan messed it up," said Hussain Naqvi, a senior IT professional with an FMCG major.

Professional singer Nirmika Singh also had similar views.u00a0 "It was quite a spectacle but the coverage marred the whole experience," she said.

Tweeple vent their ire on the microblogging site with tweets being posted every second on the slipshod coverage.

Noted stock broker Rakesh Jhunjhunwala tweeted: "Dude, you are really lucky. So many ads here ufffd the broadcast is delayed." another tweet by him read: "Simply too many ads. Am I watching Neo Sports or DD Sports?"

He was equally critical of the shabby commentary. "Dear DD Commentator, Just shut the hell up and let us watch the ceremony. You are really spoiling the opening ceremony experience."

He also poked fun at the goof-up that took place when President Pratibha Patil announced the Games open and Doordarshan showed an advertisement of Punjab National Bank on a segment of the screen.
"DD Sports is really amazing for this reason. Pratibha Patil said: Let the games begin and they are showing ads for Punjab National Bank," tweeted Jhunjhunwala.

Jacob Joseph, former OSD to former minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor, tweeted from Singapore: "Let the Gems begin. This Pratibha Patil speech was brought to you by Cadbury."

Raheel Khurshid, a resident of Kashmir, said: "DD! Do u even understand what a LIVE telecast means? It's LIVE as in DIRECT broadcast! Not Live as in Put-in-several-annoying-ads-cast."

Doordarshan had an initial ad revenue target of Rs 200 crore. Later, it was revised to Rs 100 crore in view of the poor corporate response.

According to sources, initial ad spot rates offered were of Rs 10 lakh. They were revised to Rs 5 lakh and then reduced to Rs 1 lakh per ad spot of 10 seconds each.

The Other Side

Organising Committee spokesperson Lalit Bhanot said, "It was a great show. We all should be proud of it. If such a thing has happened, Doordarshan should take a call."
Doordarshan Director General Arun Sharma did not return repeated calls. Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni too did not reply to phone calls.

Reason to Cheer

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and former President A P J Abdul Kalam were among the dignitaries who received the loudest applause from over 50,000 spectators at the opening ceremony of the 19th Commonwealth Games at the splendid Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.
As the two giant screens beamed images of the Prime Minister entering the venue at about 6.40 pm, the capacity crowd at the stadium erupted with loud cheers. The stadium again erupted in loud cheers when Kalam's face was beamed on the screens. A smiling Kalam waved to the crowd only to receive a bigger applause. Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit, who had spent long hours at the Games Village in the last few days to set everything in order, was also greeted with loud cheers.

Metro Glitch

A technical glitch in the signalling system marred the entire effort of Delhi Metro to open Central Secretariat- Badarpur Line up to Sarita Vihar in time for the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games.
Throughout the day, trains on the section were running late by up to half an hour and passengers remained stranded for hours.
The line's opening was crucial as two of the Metro stations, namely Jangpura Metro station and Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Metro station were main transit stations on the network for Commonwealth Games opening ceremony at the JLN stadium. "It was the first day. Such technical glitches do happen. Ideally, it should have not been opened on a day like this. There was a problem with the announcement system. Apart from that trains were being stopped for more than the scheduled time at stations," an official said.

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