Let’s be honest, there’s not a whole heap of moguls, luge and curling commentators in Australia, is there?
And now host Winter Olympics broadcaster, Channel Seven, has come under fire from viewers for its commenting on the Pyeongchang Games that has been described as “hose shit” and “it could not be worse”.
Still, as OzTam viewer numbers show, the monotonous droning out of the box has not stopped Aussies tuning-in to the action on the slopes in their droves.
While the broadcaster claims it had its largest ever streaming day in terms of minutes yesterday with a staggering 15.9 million minutes. Reportedly its biggest day since the Rio Olympics in 2016.
The commentators, which include Seven personalities such as Mel McLaughlin, Edwina Bartholomew, Hamish McLachlan, Basil Zempilas and even Tom Williams, have been criticised for making glib, juvenile comments to apparently cover the fact they know little about the sport they’re commentating on.
Sweden, a Winter Games powerhouse, was described as the home of ABBA, while Madagascar was referred to as the children’s movie.
And criticism from viewers has been swift. “Seven’s Olympics could not be worse at hosting the games on TV. Get rid of them,” one person wrote on Twitter. While another added: “I would actually prefer a local TV feed from Korea with commentators I can’t understand to this horse shit.” While one simply put: “(Seven) I hate you!”
And in even worse news for Seven, now its official Games app is being roasted for running way too many ads and not enough of the action.
Seven are offering two apps, which are apparently an updated version of the one it used for January’s Australian Tennis Open. One option is free, while there’s a premium edition for $15 which allows it to be used on as many as eight devices.
Users have complained of way too many pre-roll ads before events, making their phones got to sleep, and cutting to ad breaks during the actual action.
“Typical Channel Seven! Way too many ads and often between play so you miss the action,” one reviewer wrote of his app, the comments reported on News.com.au. “Worst of all, halfway through a race Channel 7 decide to play ads,” said another.
“Paid for premium, but still too many ads! It’s really annoying as they play ads during the slow mo replays so I miss a lot of what’s going on. It’s literally the same bloody ad playing every three minutes. Ridiculous,” one person wrote.
“No Chromecast support and they want to charge (for) premium. Ads randomly pop up with no reason or logic when they come up. Don’t waste money paying for this rubbish,” another added.
