TV5 needs to improve its production of sports and news programs in order to be more consistent with the other networks. (Photo courtesy of TV5)
TV5’s sports broadcasting resume was enhanced by acquiring the broadcast rights for this year’s Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. However, there are some issues that need to be resolved when it comes to both sports and news coverage.
As I observed the recent Sports5 broadcasts of the NCAA and PBA, there is something wrong with their live coverage, and that involves the announcers and courtside reporters of the said network. Typically announcers are required to wait for the commercials to end before resuming their duties, but in Sports5’s example, the announcers are already speaking once the commercials are done and a live shot of the game is shown. This is a bad example of airing a live sports event.
If Sports5’s vision is to be a leader in sportscasting, their announcers need to improve in terms of timing and thorough delivery. By eliminating this ‘can’t wait’ mentality, the broadcast of a live sports event will be well-produced and consistent. Perhaps they should look at ABS-CBN Sports’ coverage of the UAAP and see why.
Going to the news aspect, I was disgusted by Radyo5 92.3 News FM’s simulcast of ‘T3: Reload’ the other day. Their commercial breaks are too long, so much so that the final segment where Ben, Erwin and Raffy Tulfo usually deliver their final remarks and bid farewell to the viewers never aired. Meanwhile, on AksyonTV’s simulcasts of Radyo5 programs, their ‘Aksyon Breaking’ news segment is also too long, perhaps twice as long as the ‘Aksyon News Update’ on Radyo5, due to the coverage of so many stories and ‘Aksyon Weather’. As a result, the simulcast of the radio program does not start in time on AksyonTV.
Perhaps the most misleading observation is the title ‘Aksyon Breaking’. The title should only be used during live press conferences and urgent breaking news that happen beyond the top of the hour such as ongoing fires, hostage crises, accidents and shooting incidents. ‘Aksyon News Alert’, the title used on TV5, is the more applicable title for AksyonTV’s top-of-the-hour newsbreaks.
With that in mind, here are some suggestions. Whenever ‘T3: Reload’ is aired on Radyo5, they should limit themselves to 30 or 60-second commercial breaks, due to the lengthy resolution of complaints on the program. On ‘Aksyon’, around 120 to 150 seconds is more than enough. And during AksyonTV’s top-of-the-hour newsbreaks, they should limit their stories to just one or two, and deliver them in an average of 40 to 50 seconds. Finally, ‘Aksyon Weather’ should move back to the :30 minute mark of the hour, and include the global and regional weather segments.
TV5 definitely has the potential to produce the best sports and news programming possible. But unless they improve on these aspects, their progression as a media giant will be hindered.
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