Enterprising, But Too Much Of It

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32235, 2 March 1970, Page 3

Enterprising, But Too Much Of It

It was enterprising, bnt there was too much of it. Employing three television stations—AKTV2, WNTVI and DNTV2—for a network live coverage of sport was a worth-while experiment, but its welcome was worn out long before it ended. Three Saturday afternoon hours (all but three minutes) was. too much. And it was unfair to afternoon viewers who do not care for sport. The subjects chosen hardly lent themselves to bright entertainment for the many. Rowing is a worthy sport, but is enjoyed by relatively few, and to hold the attention on television of more than the strictly dedicated, rowing needs first-class presentation. This was not the case in the screening from Lake Waihola on Saturday afternoon. Perhaps the weather had something to do with it, though we were told that it was fine during the telecasts. For the most part, however, we were given depressing spectacles of large stretches of water with a few objects spread about in the distance, which we were told were boats, racing. At times the boats and their crews were brought rather closer to us, but on the whole it was a pretty dead spectacle. The commentators tried, but rowing must be about the most difficult of all sports to expound upon to the uninitiated. When you have placed the boats, said that so-and-so is doing “x” strokes to the minute, that “y” seems to be speeding up his stroke, that “z’s” body-work is good, what more is there to say? The commentators were not helped by the positioning of the camera relative to the finishing line. There would be words about an exciting finish, which would not seem apparent to the viewer to whom one boat would seem to be lengths ahead. The commentators accounted for the

discrepancy by saying that the camera’s angle of the finishing line was “severe.” No doubt, but it hardly made an alleged “exciting” finish stir the viewer. The track and field championships telecast by AKTV2 were rather more entertaining, but here again were too protracted to hold the viewer’s attention. Indeed, whole chunks were frankly boring. Watching anonymous figures plodding around and around in race after race gets tiring. Some of the finishes, the dashes up the straight, the leapings of hurdles and water-jumps, stirred interest, but there seemed to be too much padding: the thing needed cuts galore. The cycling championship preview meeting at the Haitaitai Velodrome was WNTVI’s contribution. There did not seem much reason why this should be included in preference to more worthy events, such as the Horse of the Year Show that CHTV3 might have been invited to record. The cycling piece was probably intended to be a practice run for WNTV3’s technicians and commentators.

No doubt last Saturday’s performance will be studied, and merits and faults noted. Network coverage of sport has been demonstrated to be practicable, and exciting developments should be in prospect. CHTV3 viewers will certainly be. hoping to see on their screens live telecasts from the cricket test matches in the next few weeks—and Rugby matches from other centres in the winter? it would be unfair to complete a commentary on Saturday’s network coverage without noting that Rob Crabtree was a most efficient and engaging compere.—PANDORA. ANSWER TO CORRESPONDENT Disappointed.—Limit for letters is 150 words. Will you resubmit within our limit?—Pandora.