NEWS

Viewers’ complaints about program choices and cuts

The most serious complaints concerned the choice of events being broadcast, commercial breaks or temporary loss of image (a problem that has become less frequent over the past few days). Last Monday, August 16, a live broadcast by NET of the tennis match between Greece’s Lena Daniilidou and Catalina Castano, was interrupted for the regular program «Sports Date.» On Thursday, the camera was showing the handball court, but the commentary was from a basketball match going on concurrently. Frequently, victory ceremonies are sacrificed for commercial breaks, the reason viewers missed the final two points scored in a Greek victory in volleyball. On Tuesday of last week, there were more disappointments. While ET-1 was showing the women’s gymnastics, ET3 was showing a repeat of Daniilidou’s first tennis match, and NET a live broadcast of her second match. This meant viewers missed a very important basketball game between Greece and the US, scheduled in the same time slot. What could have been left out – or at least rescheduled – was the recorded tennis match on ET3, not only to satisfy basketball fans, but because the match was of great local and international interest. ERT’s radio broadcasters have also been accused of gross inaccuracies, or stating the obvious. A reporter commenting on the equestrian events during the first week interrupted her guest, a former champion, to give us «important information about the terminology of the jumps and the name of X’s horse.» Having said that, and despite the banalities and rhetoric, ERT’s commentators do provide a wealth of useful information, such as explaining rules during baseball games.

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