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TEN confident of Commonwealth Games

"These are going to be great Games," says TEN's sports boss. "There's a lot of good news that doesn't get reported."

TEN’s general manager of sport David White has rejected claims that the Delhi Commonwealth Games will not be ready for October.

Media reports in both India and internationally have questioned if key venues will be completed in time for the
October 3 opening ceremony. There has also been speculation about corruption, the quality of venues and accommodation, plus concern over security.

“These are going to be great Games,” White says. “There’s a lot of good news that doesn’t get reported.”

White accepts there is “some basis” for the reports but says “the reality is that all the main venues have been finished”.

He told The Australian newspaper that infrastructure for many big sporting events, including the 2004 Athens Olympics, were finished with little time to spare.

“The Indian way, as they say, is not to put the marquee up until the bride comes round the corner and we’ve experienced that,” he says.

“As far as security goes, I have no concerns. The Indians have taken every precaution, as has the Australian government.”

But the president of the Commonwealth Games Federation, Mike Fennell, will make a crucial inspection of facilities – 45 days before the event is due to start. Hooper has demanded Indian authorities provide proof that all venues meet the standards expected for athlete and spectator safety.

He is expecting to have that report by the start of today’s inspection of venues.

TEN has signed Coles, AAMI, Hungry Jacks and Commonwealth Bank as sponsors for the games.

The network will also screen a three-hour morning show called Good Morning Delhi, which will air from 6am, produced fron Melbourne. With the time difference it will still be the dead of night in Delhi.

The games will be shared in Australia between TEN and Foxtel.

Source: The Australian, Sydney Morning Herald

15 Responses

  1. @sarah h If you subscribe to the sports package your going to get the games for free. The information is now up on the program guide on the Commonwealth Preview channels.
    So you won’t need to watch Tens coverage.

  2. @ pietro, yes the Games will be in HD, has been said so. Very curious to see how TEN/ONE covers this, much more than the sports themselves sadly enough but I will be watching, looking forward to seeing our challenger level tennis players going for a medal

  3. This poor-man’s Olympics will be a disaster for people after alternative programming in the Southern Cross Darwin/Tas & WIN WA broadcast markets. Even with TEN having full-time (digital only) affiliates in these areas, & digital up-take being very high in at least Darwin & Tasmania, the two Seven affiliates (Southern Cross) & the one Nine affiliate (WIN) will drop their usual programming for this rubbish. It’s one thing to it for Saturday AFL games, but this will run non-stop over two weeks! In Darwin & Tasmania, this could be running across three FTA channels – Southern Cross, DDT/TDT, & OneHD. 🙁

  4. @ newtaste, exactly! The “biggest sporting event this year”??!! What a joke! Ten must think we are stupid to fall for that beat up.

    I think the Comm. Games should be sent to the dust bin of colonial history.

  5. I wonder if any mention will be made of the small children forced to slave 24/7 building these white elephants. “The Commonwealth”. Not many members left, compared to what used to be.
    “India is a great country with fantastic people”. True, of which 99.99% will have no interest and not benefit one Rupee from this.

  6. massive fail, CG isn’t Olympics, never was, never is and never will be… It’s like comparing Oscar awards with daytime Emmy awards or MasterChef with Ready, Set, Cook.

  7. good to see it on ten, foxtel is pathetic with moneygrabbing.

    i have the full package but you have to pay extra to see good coverage, even though there are a handful of sport channels?! not on foxtel.

  8. TEN has advertised it as the biggest sporting event this year. It’s not. The soccer World Cup and NRL SofO is over, with the Melbourne Cup and NRL and AFL Grand Finals to come. The Commonwealth Games are a dud.

  9. Notably: the “Good Morning Delhi” program, will be the first time since late 1992, that 10 have done adult breakfast television. I reckon if Sunrise is threatened by this during the Games, the temporary program, may be still on air post Delhi, and Good Morning Australia may live again on Ten…

  10. well has he gone and had a look at these venues or his specualting on this, because the advertising. they think this is going to be bigger than any olympic games held

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