Relief for viewers as Doordarshan shows ‘live’ CWG closing

NEW DELHI - Doordarshan Thursday evening broadcast the entire closing ceremony without showing any advertisements, much to the relief of viewers who had complained of ill-placed ad breaks during the opener.

“The government has told us not to show advertisements during the closing ceremony,” Doordarshan director general Aruna Sharma told IANS.

She said the broadcaster’s coverage for the ceremony began at 4.30 p.m., which was a recap of the Games and the status of the medals tally of the mega-sporting event.

Thereafter, the channel moved to a one hour pre-ceremony event at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium at 6 p.m. The closing ceremony started at 7 p.m. for a two-hour extravaganza marked by laser shows and music.

“We will only be showing the advertisements in the slot between 4.30 p.m. and 7 p.m.,” she had said earlier, and added that some advertisement may be slotted after the event.

Viewers therefore got to see the event actually “live” instead of “deferred live”, as was done during the opening ceremony.

“During the opening ceremony we were really angry with the ad breaks, and were quite apprehensive about the DD coverage. So it was certainly a relief not to have the ad breaks today,” said Seema Mehta, a 23-year-old Delhi University student.

Similarly, Ramesh Rawail, an Old Delhi businessmen, was glad about the live telecast coverage. “Last time, my brother had gone to the stadium to watch the ceremony. He had come back home and saw that the opening ceremony was still being shown ‘live’. It was ridiculous,” he said.