TV Pool broadcast of SEA Games really stinks

Though the curtain will come down tonight and there are several gold medals up for grabs in the mean time, Thailand looked all set to capture the overall crown with a haul of 99 gold medals, leaving Myanmar a distant second with 76 gold.

Thailand’s achievement in most of the Olympic sports was beyond anyone’s expectations. For example, not many pundits expected them to take the lion’s share in swimming, athletics and boxing. The outcome, therefore, was a pleasant surprise and acted as some sort of a healing balm for Thais mired in hopelessness caused by political conflict. Still there was disappointment and a feeling of disgust.

It’s a pity that Thai fans missed out on several live games and joyful moments due to the callousness of TV Pool, which has come in for heavy criticism among Thai fans.

TV Pool, which acquired the broadcast licence, joined forces with NBT channel and Channels 3, 5, 7 and Modernine TV to broadcast the Games live. Two channels were supposed to televise for five hours a day. NBT was the main channel while the rest were to rotate the broadcast timings throughout the day. 

The broadcast issue became a hot topic among the online community on Pantip.com. Sport fans cried foul that only a few sports involving Thai athletes were broadcast live. Except football matches, most of the other sports were merely reruns. The fans called for justice as none wanted to watch events where the result was already known. They said the lack of suspense killed the excitement and joy of watching sports. 

“We have to search for free TV links from Vietnam [to watch the games]. I wanna die. Do the Thai athletes know that while they were competing, we were watching TV soap operas as the Games were not broadcast at prime time?” an irate Thai wrote on Pantip.

“There were live games only for two hours. It’s pathetic that the time for live broadcast is less than The Voice [Thai reality television series on the Channel 3] contest,” another complained.

A Web user wrote on the board, “I believe all Thais are waiting to cheer Thai athletes contesting in international games. No matter win or lose I believe Thais are very proud of seeing the Thai national flag being wrapped around the athletes’ jerseys. While they are performing for the Kingdom, we want to cheer them up.” 

It cannot be denied that Thai TV viewers have watched more of anti-government protesters, the national addresses or press conferences of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and the Centre for the Administration of Peace and Order than sports and games. The government statements were always broadcast live on NBT. Most of the Thai sport fans were forced to watch the Games through other channels. But for the video-sharing website YouTube and Internet TV from Thailand’s neighbourhood, Thais could have missed tons of thrilling moments during the Games.

Hopefully, in the near future when Thailand gets 12 digital public television channels, one of them would provide live sports feed, especially during regional tournaments.

Though Thailand received the highest number of gold medals, it is a pity that Thais could hear their national anthem played during the medal ceremony only a few times because of the awful broadcast.

Whenever the anthem is played, we Thais feel very proud of what our athletes have accomplished. That joy has been denied.