Testing times on TV

It’s probably fair to say that the local TV here in Guyana is an eclectic mix of programming. One minute you are watching an episode of Family Guy on Fox Puerto Rico then you see an advertisement for two-ply toilet roll on offer at the local supermarket. It certainly keeps you guessing about what will come next.

In the UK television channels work on the basic principle of one, two, three, four etc (and even the myriad of channels now on offer on satellite TV follow some sort of chronology) but here there’s a more haphazard system. Channel 7 seems to show a range of American programmes, then there’s a local channel 11 and the numbers increase in random increments such as 28, 65, 67, 92, and 102.

At least the World Twenty20 is available on a reasonably accessible local channel, which hasn’t been the case on all the islands, and they are giving it considerable airtime by replaying full highlights later in the evening. In between the double-headers they fill time with a live cricket phone-in quiz – named Cricket Bingo – hosted by a chap sat behind a desk reading out the questions.

Yesterday there was a particularly tough question: How many Twenty20 matches has MS Dhoni played and how many runs has he scored? That’s the time go hunting on Cricinfo.

Without wanting to cast any aspersions it’s not entirely clear quite how legal some of the foreign channels are because they seem to flick around at rather random intervals. One minute it’s CNN reporting on the Times Square bomber then it’s an episode of CSI. And one of the films that was on kept looping back when it hit a certain point.

Then, when the advert breaks appear, instead of your usual promos for shampoo, holidays or the latest gadget, a list of birthday wishes or, on a more sombre note, a list of obituaries scrolls across the screen accompanied by a suitable piece of music. You don’t see that on the BBC although it might be a decent use of the license fee. I wonder how much the two-ply toilet roll will be going for tonight?