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Korea¡¯s big three terrestrial broadcasters have joined hands to provide commentary on events at the Turin Winter Olympics to avoid overlapping broadcasts and save money. KBS was in charge of speed skating and the ski jump, MBC took on snowboarding and skiing, and SBS provided commentary for figure skating and ice hockey. But for the short-track competition, where Korea traditionally dominates, each broadcaster had their own commentator and the event was shown on all three channels, leaving viewers little choice but to watch it.
The Winter Olympics gathers over 2,500 athletes from 85 different countries and awards 84 gold medals in seven disciplines and 15 specific fields. The eight-hour time difference makes it difficult to enjoy the competition between the world's best, since the day¡¯s events start when it is already 5 p.m. in Korea, and broadcasts rarely get underway until 1 or 2 a.m. Daytime is then taken up with reruns, and here is where the problem lies.
Some viewers are angry. ¡°Why do you just show events where Korean players take part and no other major events?¡± one viewer demands on a bulletin board. Already, many are turning to Japanese satellite channels if they want to watch other events.
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Canada's World Cup leader Mellisa Hollingsworth-Richards jumps on her sled during the women's skeleton event at the Torino 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Italy. She won the bronze medal. Korea has its eye on a second gold medal in the 1,500-meter women¡¯s and 1,000-meter men¡¯s short-track speed skating competitions on Sunday.
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Foreigners here subjected to Korean-style sports broadcasting are perplexed. One expatriate says Korean TV failed to show even the gold medallists¡¯ performance in figure skating and have been harping on Anton Ohno¡¯s disqualification in the short-track competition while ignoring the achievements of all the other excellent foreign athletes.
Of course, when covering sports where Korea is in head-to-head competition with other countries, it is hard to resist a little patriotic bias, and here newspapers are as guilty as TV. But should the sentiment get in the way of viewers¡¯ interest in watching world-class athletic competitions? Having already hosted the Summer Olympics once and making a bid for the Winter Games, Korea can surely do better.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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