TV blackout on Games’ Day -2
The first major glitch in Greece’s staging of the Olympics struck with the holding of the first Games events yesterday, two days before the official opening ceremony. While television audiences around the world were able to watch a soccer match in Thessaloniki between Greece and South Korea – which ended in a 2-2 draw – for 25 minutes, Greek TV viewers watching the game on the state ET-1 channel had first no picture and then no sound. Throughout, ET -1 left local TV audiences in the dark without offering any information on the nature of the problem. The government expressed strong displeasure. Spokesman Theodoros Roussopoulos issued a statement promising «maximum severity» in investigating who was responsible for the problem. «Those responsible will be punished,» he said. State broadcaster ERT attributed the glitch to a short circuit, which caused the entire central control system to collapse.
