Surf through the sports channels these days and it seems to be cricket, cricket and more cricket. And on Sunday, cricket mania hit the roof as the hugely-anticipated India Vs England match was held at Chinnaswamy Stadium. Unfortunately for those who are not die-hard cricket fans, there is little else to watch on TV. Football fans especially, who follow the Barclays Premier League are disappointed and angry with the poor coverage of other sports.
ESPN, Star Sports and Star Cricket “simulcast” the same match on all three channels, as was the case with India’s preparatory matches, the opening ceremony and the India Vs Bangladesh match. To top it all, there are also pre-inning, mid-inning, post-match shows as well as highlights of old cricket matches. Meanwhile, out of five BPL matches played on Saturday, only one was broadcast live, while the others were deferred to timings like 3 am on Monday morning. This, while decent air time is given to highlights of cricket matches from as far back as 1992!
Footie fan Arjun Sreekumar says, “Since the Cricket World Cup began, it’s been pretty hard to see football matches. The toughest teams face off in weekend matches and those are the games we look forward to. As far as cricket goes, they can show it on one or two channels, but at least one channel should have other sports including football.”
Ajoy Barretto, another football enthusiast, points out, “Regular matches during the week are aired at around 1 am so it’s really difficult for people to catch them. But on the weekends, at least, we should be able to enjoy live football. I feel the sports channels are simply catering to the masses and sidelining everything that’s not cricket. Whenever I switch on the TV, it’s either a cricket match or experts talking about which direction the ball went! I just switch off the TV and go play some football.”
RJ and producer Archana Addoni, who is not a fan of any particular sport, sums it up, “I watch sports channels to stay updated, but nowadays, all I see is cricket!”
We just hope their voices are not drowned by the cheers of cricket fans.
