You know one thing.. Organisers did an excellent job without showing both the WS matches . That definitely going to be yawning thing for spectators. Organisers don't know which match they will play perfectly and which one would be already fixed. Period.
BWF is acting really poorly in my opinion. BWF should just show the best matches, the highest level of play. Why not show a match between WS world #2 vs #3? It turned out to be a highly competitive 3 set match. Just show the stars of the sport, the most talented players. I also don't mind BWF showing some level ranked up-coming players who will be the stars of the future, like some of the WC Jr champions or the fast rising players. But why show players who are not playing at a high level now, and are not showing that much improvement either? Simply showing them based on their nationality is really boring. Some of the players the BWF chose to show i've never ever heard of and probably never will again.
Solution 1- limit one entry from each country. Solution 2- put all players from the same country in the same half. Then, there is 100% fool proof.
On previous tournaments I have often been turned off by the selection of matches on tv court. They would often repeat the same selection, typically matches involving LCW (as no.1 seed). So on the quarters, semis, and finals, we would always see the same player. What I like is that they change the region of the draw to be put on tv court. The upper half, then lower half, then in the middle...So we see different faces. I did not look at the court tv selection throughout the rounds for this Indian SS, but maybe the exclusion of the CHN vs CHN matches from court tv was just because those plaeyers were on court tv for earlier rounds? Anyway, there should be a clear policy from the BWF to define which matches should be on court tv. There are huge money involoved.
Calm Down, Ladies & Gentlemen! Many of the 'angry' and 'outraged' arguments in this thread about how TV coverage is decided are without any basis whatsoever. The actual decision process is not a written-in-stone method (there is no B&W policy). I won't go into all the details... but it's best described as a discretionary process. The BWF has very specific rules (not just guidelines) about how TV coverage is produced. They deal with the intro, the graphics, the angles, the positioning of the ad boards, etc. They also cover the quality of the signal, the clean feed, the slow-motion setup, etc. However, neither the rules nor the guidelines deal with the matches to be broadcast. It's the tournament sponsor that has the biggest say when it's about the TV court. The next biggest voice is that of the rights owner, which is usually the host broadcaster. (The host broadcaster's choices are, in turn, influenced by demands from other broadcasters who have bought territorial rights for their own areas - a Danish TV station would obviously ask for Denmark matches as a pre-condition to buy the rights.) If we take the India Open as an example, then this is the basic process: On any day except the final day, Yonex has the right to choose which matches should go on air. (But they cannot choose to have more matches on the TV Court and fewer matches on Court 2 unless the next match on Court 2 hasn't started when the last match on the TV Court has finished.) On the final day, they are free to arrange the Order of Play but they are not at liberty to exclude any match from the broadcast package. (It's worth noting that this 'control' extends to only the live production - which is a multi-camera live-switching production - and does not impact the live streaming which is an automated single-camera direct stream. However, territorial rights limitations are the same for both the live stream and the live production.) This was the Order of Play on the semifinal day (5 April) at the 2014 India Open: TV Court: XD - Korea (Victor) vs Indonesia (Victor) MD - Denmark (Yonex) vs Thailand (Yonex) MS - China (Li Ning) vs Denmark (Li Ning) WD - Korea (Victor) vs Denmark (Yonex) MS - Malaysia (Yonex) vs China (Li Ning) Non-TV Court: XD - Denmark (Babolat & Yonex) vs China (Li Ning) MD - China (Li Ning) vs Japan (Yonex) WD - China (Li Ning) vs China (Li Ning) WS - China (Li Ning) vs China (Li Ning) WS - China (Li Ning) vs China (Li Ning) Keep in mind that China, Indonesia, India and Malaysia have large TV audiences for badminton. However, although Europe (primarily Denmark, the UK, Germany and Poland) and Singapore are behind the four leaders, the local TV spot rates are 'more expensive' in these areas. From the Order of Play above, it's clear that matches featuring Yonex are a priority. Nevertheless, voices other than that of Yonex have to be heard and accommodated. That means Korea, China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Denmark get 'shown' too because the broadcasters from those countries insist on at least minimal representation. Actually, Yonex would have liked to broadcast the second XD and MD matches too. But, since both Kim Ha Na and Christinna Pedersen had two matches each, a scheduling conflict would have popped up. Also, if they wanted to slot in the second MD match, it would've had to be the last match on Court 2. The fifth match on the TV court should have ended before the Wang Shixian vs Wang Yihan match ended. And even if these conditions were met, showing the second MD match would mean leaving viewers with a 'last image' other than that of Lee Chong Wei - Yonex's biggest draw. I hope this throws some light at least on what goes on behind the scenes before the broadcast line-up is decided. In any case, it has nothing to do with race or nationality or any other imaginary or perceived bias. Cheer up, folks. All is well with badminton __________ PS: The OUE Singapore Open 2014 will be an interesting case study because the title sponsor has no interest in deciding anything at all related to the broadcast
Excellent explanation and narration of things that happens behind the scenes. Sir, if you would have given this earlier, that would have been better for some of the fans of china who were kept on insisting the same.. So, these all depends on sponsors and broadcast owner's demands..
http://www.tournamentsoftware.com/s...A247C0-51DE-4A7E-A3A6-EED7607702D3&d=20140308 may I ask, for All England Semi Final, why didn't they put the XD Natsir/Ahmad vs Kim/Ko in the non TV court? There is no Yonex players involved; and there is no European players involved, right?
[MENTION=13175]Oldhand[/MENTION] has explained clearly what was the scene behind the selection of matches for tv courts as he is the one who has better view inside than anybody else here. Hence, it is unnecessary to ask something like "why not in that tournament or why not in this tournament " etc which entirely depends on the sponsors involved. Period
The broadcast slot for the semifinal was a whopping six hours (Noon to 6pm). (Someone must have goofed up because the TV time on QF day was only five hours.) That's why six matches were moved to Court 1 on the SF day. Zhao Yunlei was to play in both the XD and WD. Any time a player is scheduled to play in two categories, his/her matches have to be separated by a rest window. For the organisers, the choice was between opening with the XD or the WD. No marketing person would allow the WD to open a broadcast session. The guiding rule is "open with the second best, end with the best" (but badminton doesn't always follow this). As such, the XD matches had to be the opener. One was Li Ning vs Li Ning. The other was Victor vs Victor. If you were Yonex, you would certainly choose "the lesser evil" --------- PS: At the AE 2014, it was Sky Sports that called most of the shots (but not all).
Thank you very much for your comprehensive and helpful responses. Just a few further questions: (1) Does the local broadcaster (eg, sky sports) pay for the broadcast or is it the other way round (ie, local broadcaster are paid by the organizer/BWF for the production)? (2) who has the most say usually? whoever pay the most for the event? (3) Why did Sky Sports called most of the shots in AE 2014? thanks again.
By the way, the BWF too has a say in the match schedule and the Order of Play. But this say is largely restricted to questions based on player ranking. For example, a match with a combined player ranking far above that of another match will have to be preferred. (Ranking is a big thing on court. To illustrate: a lower-ranked player will have to change his shirt even if he is representing the title sponsor if the higher-ranked opponent is wearing the same colour. In other words, if both Lee Chong Wei and Lin Dan turn up wearing yellow, Lin Dan has no option but to change to some other colour.)
