channel vision
Robert Kirby
Strange how our television broadcasters, the moment they know they’ve got a popular programme, like to pig out on commercials. I’ve seen as much as eight minutes of an uninterrupted commercial break before a final rugby match; the inclusion during the match, at about two-minute intervals, of the dreadful squeezebacks so hated by those who watch. Some of the so-called unintrusive “sponsor presence” logos are now animated, which, according to those who determine these things, remain unintrusive.
When last I checked the stipulated maximum ratio of commercials to programmes on television was 15% that is, 9 minutes in an hour. As we all know this is seldom the case when it comes to prime-time television. The reason is that the law was made to measure for the SABC and stated that the 15% must be calculated on the total annual of hours broadcast.
This loophole is, of course, 10 times wider than the famous mine in Kimberley. What the SABC does is cram in as much as it likes when the viewership numbers are high and then, in the small hours when no one but a few insomniacs are watching telly, they broadcast hardly any ads at all.
Despite a search of the old Independent Broadcasting Authority website, to which I was referred by the newer body, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa), I couldn’t find any reference to this time restriction. What I did find out from Icasa was that e.tv, by its licence agreement, is restricted to a maximum of 12 minutes of advertising in any one hour.
Which brings me to a recent broadcast on e.tv of an episode in the popular series The Sopranos. The programme slot for this is an hour. Due to ads and programme trailers, last Friday’s Sopranos got going two minutes late. The first ad break was about seven minutes later and lasted nearly five minutes. About a minute of this was programme trailer material, which, for reasons unexplained, is regarded as non-commercial. Advertising your own product is quite okay and apparently doesn’t count in the final tally.
By the end of the hour the total time out for commercials and trailers was going on 20 minutes and actual advertising seemed way over the stipulated 12 minutes. I wonder how e.tv would explain this apparent overstaying of its commercial welcome. In the meantime viewers get battered, their entertainment rudely interrupted every seven to nine minutes.
The latest SABC3 news billboard is a very clumsy affair. Yards and yards of “clever” overlays, rotating gimbals, churning music and finally, breathless little gasps out of the forthcoming stories. Why do they have to keep changing things? The last news desk was simple and easy to look at. Now they’ve added a great diagonal stripe with moving clouds and what you will taking up about a third of the screen. It’s all far too busy.
The trouble is that, for all the fancy effects, the technical standards decay by the week. Presenters have distorted sound, the wrong tape inserts come up almost as regularly as the correct ones. They should forget the fancy sets and try to get the basics right.
The new SABC3 weather presentation is by Simon Gear who apparently is incapable of introducing himself. The news presenter has to play the part of a master of ceremonies to get Simon going.
Mr Gear is too eager and effusive by about nine tenths. His verve and vigour may be as genuine as the day but he certainly doesn’t come across that way. His presentations are like a parody of one of those “motivational” speakers, the two-dimensional plastic enthusiasm of the sales seminar. As predictable as he was, dear old Graeme Hart had loads of quiet authority. Mr Gear is all flash.
The Monza Grand Prix, two days after the New York and Washington tragedies, was marked by one of the most garish exhibitions of artificial grief we have yet to witness. The Ferrari cars had their sponsorship decals removed and raced with the cars’ noses painted black. Breaks your heart, doesn’t it? Such taste, such finesse. Jesse Jackson would be proud of them.
To finish, my own mea culpa. Last week I dumped on poor Debora Patta for reducing the World Trade Centre towers to 70 floors, myself having stated that they were 107 levels which is what a reporter on CNN said. I should have double-checked. The towers were, according to Time magazine, 110 floors. I hope they’re right.