Thank You Thailand For Blacking Out The World Cup

[madmitch]

I went to Gulliver's last night. Fairly big crowd anticipating the England game. A few words of disgust were yelled from certain people at the TV channel rather than the King. Though it was all very nice, did we really need to see all those replays of thousands of people in their yellow T-shirts waving their flags at the king? I know that not everyone likes football ... but the vast majority of football fans in Thailand were looking forward to watching the England game.

Let's hope they get it sorted out before the final ... even if it doesn't involve England!

Oh ... by the way ... no English commentary in Gulliver's last night. And for a good part of the game no commentary or vision! I'd advise you to all stay at home and log onto the Internet ...

I wonder why they didn't have English commentry. They had it the previous evening for the Germany v Costa Rica game.

We will likely have to suffer extended Thai news bulletins for the next 3 days at 8pm. Looks like the Aussies will have to suffer the same disruptions as the English fans did when they play Japan on Monday.

I have a satellite system that picks up Supersort from South Africa. Yesterday evening the SA channels disappeared just after 6pm, not to return. It's possible that Gullivers gets the same feed and that's why the only alternative was the Thai version.

The SA channels are still not available this morning. There are different companies using different decoders so it's probably not everyone.

Needless to say I wasn't happy and if it doesn't return today my evening's viewing is completely f***ed up: rugby, GP, tennis and football.

[monty]

Everybody using the dynasat equipment to watch Supersport (SA) will probably have to go without for the next few days...

The only way to watch is with the original valid South African Multichoice subscriber card popped into your receiver!

Thats why the majority of Thailand will have to bear the Thai comments from now on, and forget about the first 25 minutes of the 8PM match for the next few days...

[Simmo]

I went to Gulliver's last night. Fairly big crowd anticipating the England game. A few words of disgust were yelled from certain people at the TV channel rather than the King. they play Japan on Monday.

Yeah I was in there too. It felt like a riot was going to break out 10 minutes into the news. The big boos for Thaksin were funny though

Edited June 11, 2006 by Simmo

[jackr]

English commentary in many pubs in Chiang mai, although the guy must've been on drugs... I'm sure he mentioned Colombia a few times.

Edited June 11, 2006 by jackr

[drayon]

English commentary in many pubs in Chiang mai, although the guy must've been on drugs... I'm sure he mentioned Colombia a few times.

I heard that too, their commentary seemed a little latent as well +/-1 sec

[Sunderland]

The King's news is on EVERY night at 2000, if they were to move the timing to suit the football wouldn't this be sending out the message that football is more important than royalty?

In short, NO CHANCE! i'm affraid that the first 25 minutes of every 2000 game are going to be missed. Get used to it.

I went to Gulliver's last night. Fairly big crowd anticipating the England game. A few words of disgust were yelled from certain people at the TV channel rather than the King. Though it was all very nice, did we really need to see all those replays of thousands of people in their yellow T-shirts waving their flags at the king? I know that not everyone likes football ... but the vast majority of football fans in Thailand were looking forward to watching the England game.

Let's hope they get it sorted out before the final ... even if it doesn't involve England!

Oh ... by the way ... no English commentary in Gulliver's last night. And for a good part of the game no commentary or vision! I'd advise you to all stay at home and log onto the Internet ...

I wonder why they didn't have English commentry. They had it the previous evening for the Germany v Costa Rica game.

We will likely have to suffer extended Thai news bulletins for the next 3 days at 8pm. Looks like the Aussies will have to suffer the same disruptions as the English fans did when they play Japan on Monday.

Granted that the TV companies can do whatever they like and I am not questioning their right to show anything connected with the King at this special time for Thailand. However, common sense would suggest that they should have sorted this out when they allocated games to different channels. They don't have news about the King at 8pm on every channel, do they? Simple ... allocate the 8pm games to a channel with flexible program scheduling. Oh well ...

And besides, it's not just foreigners having a moan. I met lots of Thais last night that were equally, shall I say "pissed off" at the lack of coverage for the first 25 minutes. The only part of the game worth watching.

[b732]

I have been watching on SA Supersport in Phuket and it's been pretty good coverage (World Cup programming 24/7.. even better than back home) but will be in Chiang Mai from Thursday to the end of the WC. Does anyone know how long they're going to be doing the extended news for the King?.. I'll probably be watching mostly on Thai terrestrial TV.

[Sunderland]

someone should volunteer to be a comentator in any English pub ... all you need is a microphone and a speaker heheehehe

Haha ... nice one, Tytus. I think that would have added to the entertainment value of last night's game. Could be like American Idol ... you get 5 minutes and then you pass the microphone on to someone else who is hopefully sober enough to stand up straight.

[davethailand]

At the end of the day Thailand is having its biggest celebration ever, The Kings 60th year.

FIFA IMO were stupid to open the world club on this date and to be honest people have no right to complain if the games are put second to this event.

[Sing_Sling]

At the end of the day Thailand is having its biggest celebration ever, The Kings 60th year.

FIFA IMO were stupid to open the world club on this date and to be honest people have no right to complain if the games are put second to this event.

So, FIFA is stupid for planning this 6-8 years ago . . .

Absolutely no offense to the King, but if his celebrations were to be taken into account, shouldn't everthing else be taken into account then?

In other words you will not find a day in the calendar that does not have some signifigance somewhere - - - at the end of the day the World Cup is more important in the world. In Thailand this is obviously not the case.

[davethailand]

At the end of the day Thailand is having its biggest celebration ever, The Kings 60th year.

FIFA IMO were stupid to open the world club on this date and to be honest people have no right to complain if the games are put second to this event.

So, FIFA is stupid for planning this 6-8 years ago . . .

Absolutely no offense to the King, but if his celebrations were to be taken into account, shouldn't everthing else be taken into account then?

In other words you will not find a day in the calendar that does not have some signifigance somewhere - - - at the end of the day the World Cup is more important in the world. In Thailand this is obviously not the case.

The celebration of the worlds longest reigning monarch with festivities that will be attended by Royalty from all over the world. Should they put the football before that ???????

You can't knock Thailand or its people for turning off the footie for 20 minutes.

Surely the Kings 60th celebrations were known to be on this day 10 years ago on his 50th celebration?

Edited June 11, 2006 by davethailand

[george]

Please show respect for the Royal Family.

Thread closed.