The world's best

August 14, 2008

Dear Sir,

Mr. Fernance Perry – the Bermuda public are not "just plain rude" and are not attacking "someone for their accents and cultures" – the Caribbean coverage of the Olympic Games from 7 to 11 each morning is obviously put together to entertain the Caribbean audience which is great if you are from the Caribbean and are familiar with the competitors names.

During the year in Bermuda we are not exposed only to the Caribbean sports people, we watch excellent coverage of every possible sport on our television screens from all over the world.

This is the reason we want to see them compete on the world stage – in my opinion the Olympic Games is the very best sports event in the world. Sportsmen like Tyson Gaye, Bernard Lagat, Dara Torres, Michael Phelps, Yao Ming, Li Ning, Tirunesch Dibaba, Kobe Bryant and James Blake are all competing in the 2008 Olympic Games.

Maybe if the Bermuda Government did support their own athletes – as they support the soccer players and the cricketers, we might have a better Bermuda.

BRENDA SPEARING

Smith's

Paying for bad coverage

August 14, 2008

Dear Sir,

The Bermuda Broadcasting's arrogant response to the bitter criticism shared by so many viewers about the bally awful Olympic coverage pretty much says it all about how much it respects its viewers.

What I want to know is, what would have happened if Bank of Bermuda and Belco etc. had not sponsored this exclusivity? Presumably the usual TV coverage would be available to us all in the normal way, namely through VSB for the NBC coverage, and also channels 6 (NBC) 22 (ESPN) 25 (CNBC) and 138 (CBC) on Cablevision.

Why, oh why, did Bermuda Broadcasting have to spoil this for all of us, and why did Bank of Bermuda et al spend money to prevent us from much better choice of coverage?

FACTUM EST

Paget

Speak out on Olympics

August 13, 2008

Dear Sir,

There are some sports events that we would not see without the intervention of a local television station and the generosity of local companies. West Indies Test Matches are an example. There are however other sports events that would be seen, probably on multiple stations on cable, without any local intervention. The Olympics is such an example. If the Bermuda Broadcasting Company (BBC) had not decided to secure the rights to the Olympics in Bermuda and try to make the broadcast into an economically payable broadcast, we would have had a minimum of four CableVision channels on which to watch the Olympics. Instead we are restricted to one channel that occasionally provides limited coverage from the Caribbean and that has extraordinarily poor reception. In the meantime all other channels are blacked out.

On Saturday evening as I was watching this coverage and noted that there were long periods of absence even from this coverage (the screen was blank or carried the ZBM logo), I decided to call Mr. Fernance Perry, a major shareholder of BBC to complain (his number is in the phone book). Mr Perry was suitably argumentative, suggested that their coverage was excellent, complained at length that Cablevision does not pay them for their channel air time and then hung up on me.

Shortly after that, as I was watching the beach volleyball, BBC went into one of its unscheduled blackouts almost at the end of the first set. Seven or eight minutes later the television came to life again almost at the end of the second set. I guess one of his technicians, protecting us from unauthorised advertising, had forgotten to restart the broadcast on time.

Mr. Perry, if you are going to impose broadcast restrictions on us then at least do the job well. Also why do you have the worst reception of any channels on Cablevision? Even Bishop Lambe on his channel gets better reception than you guys who are supposed to be professional broadcasters. Bishop Lambe, I implore you, please give the BBC some pointers!

I, for one, appreciate the involvement of sponsors of these programmes since I am sure they are doing it more for goodwill than for economics. Please in the future differentiate between programming that we would normally get and programming that we would not get. For example, major sponsor, Bank of Bermuda, HSBC or whatever you now call yourselves, you did real good with Cup Match coverage but real bad with the Olympics.

So please sponsors, call Mr. Perry and have a heart-to-heart talk with him. Tell him you are not happy being associated with BBC's shoddy Olympic coverage since it is putting your company in a bad light. Tell him the quality of the picture on Cablevision is totally unacceptable and you will not advertise with them again unless they improve their Cablevision feeds to acceptable standards. Tell him to stop blacking out the other channels. Tell him you are not happy being put in this uncomfortable position by BBC's substandard coverage and poor public relations.

If, as I expect, he argues otherwise, then just remove your sponsorship and advertising for poor performance. More importantly don't get into these deals again. Only sponsor those shows that we would not receive in the normal course of cable broadcast such as Cup Match. We really do appreciate your sponsorship in those cases.

For all of you frustrated viewers, call Mr. Perry or any of the sponsors. Let them know how you feel. If enough of us complain then maybe we'll get the coverage that we deserve.

ALASTAIR MACDONALD

City of Hamilton

Low standards

August 12, 2008

Dear Sir,

It boggles the mind that we have four channels listed as showing the Olympics, yet we can only watch it on one. It's incredible that I have to stay up until 1 a.m. in hopes of watching the swimming finals. It's even more baffling when I'm in the middle of watching Olympic events and they get interrupted by PGA Golf. I would almost call this a joke if it weren't so upsetting.

The Olympics is the biggest collective sporting event in the world; it doesn't get replayed and it's not good enough to read about it in the paper. I know I speak for many, many people on the island when I say this is outrageous, even for a country that despite its wealth and technological innovation has embarrassing television standards.

Furthermore, the vague explanations given only further frustrate and anger viewers. I think we deserve a clear and justifiable reason why we are receiving such terrible coverage; we have as much a right to watch the major events as any other country in the world. What a disgrace. Maybe someone will post some events on YouTube for us.

ANGRY IN SMITH'S

Mean spirited

August 12, 2008

Dear Sir,

Compelling Cablevision to black out channels showing the Olympics is disgusting. Cablevision is able to provide a variety of cover and, like WOW, should be able to do so. It is understandable that ZBM insist on blacking out other stations showing the same NBC coverage at the same time, but to black out all channels at all times, particularly when ZBM are not showing the Olympics at the same time, is just mean spirited.

On Saturday and Sunday ZBM cut to the PGA golf (which on Saturday was rained out, so it was actually golf from last year) but still the other channels were blacked out. This is just ridiculous. As for showing that Caribbean coverage... What are ZBM's motives? Presumably advertising revenue. Well in case Lindo's and other sponsors read this, my family have just stopped shopping at Lindo's. Well done, ZBM, for spoiling the biggest sporting event in four years for the Bermuda public.

A DISGUSTED SPORTS FAN

St. George's