<i>At BTV's mercy</i>

The victory for the Tigers at the Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium yesterday was a sweet one, coming in quick time and an action-packed one all through. The way the match was wrapped up in 42 overs, or 180 minutes, meant there was hardly a dull moment in the game. But for millions of viewers, sitting in front of their TV sets, there were a lot of distractions. The start of the match unfortunately coincided with the 2 pm news on BTV, followed by the Zohar prayers. Once the game telecast started, one would have thought that there would be an uninterrupted relay, especially since the home side were doing well. But the viewers were left to scratch their heads as too much was encroached upon by commercials.
The ads were squeezed in between deliveries, at the start of overs and also towards the end of overs. Many of the overs were relayed with the first ball and the last and in some cases even whole overs -- being lost to the advertisements.
Since the match was telecast only on BTV, the viewers were helpless and had to make do with whatever match coverage was provided.
It is understandable that sponsors' money is what helps bring the matches live on TV, but that doesn't mean that the channel has to squeeze in all those ads meant for the eight hours of match-time into three hours if the match, like yesterday's, is a short one. The attitude of the BTV authorities left viewers wondering whether cricket was the occasion or the commercials.