Dissatisfaction with the Olympic Games Broadcasting in Moldova. TVR Moldova: “Criticism Is Unjustified”
The start of the Olympic Games (OG) in Paris, where the Republic of Moldova was represented by 26 athletes, was criticized after viewers and Internet users reported they could not watch the competitions live. Some of them asked why the public TV channel was not broadcasting the Olympics, while others were dissatisfied with TVR Moldova which was in charge of live broadcasting in the territory of the country for not broadcasting the participation of judoist Denis Vieru who was awarded a bronze medal for the Republic Moldova. The TVR Moldova administration claims this criticism is unjustified.
Recently, several citizens have mentioned on the social networks that they could not watch the performance of Moldovan athletes in Paris or had to pay on certain platforms to watch the competitions or to use dubious websites. Criticism intensified after July 28, when judoist Denis Vieru won the first medal of this Olympics for the Republic of Moldova, and the event was not broadcast by any TV channel from Chisinau. The discussion was focused on who exactly was supposed to be in charge of this broadcast, and it has generated much speculation.
WHO HAS THE RIGHT TO BROADCAST THE PARIS OLYMPIC GAMES
Vlad Turcanu, Teleradio-Moldova Company Director, was the first to provide some clarifications about broadcasting the Olympic Games in the territory of the Republic of Moldova. “The broadcasting rights for the 2024 Olympic Games belong to the Romanian TV which broadcasts them in the territory of the Republic of Moldova via the TVR Moldova channel. These rights were purchased several years ago, before the mandate of the current administration of the Teleradio-Moldova Company started. The current administration has been negotiating about broadcasting the next winter and summer Olympic Games until 2032,” he wrote on his Facebook page.
The information was confirmed for Media Azi by the TVR Moldova director. “This acquisition was managed by our colleagues from Bucharest. No other TV channel from the Republic of Moldova was interested in obtaining these rights. Therefore, the Romanian Television purchased the rights for the Republic of Moldova as well. The Romanian Television Society paid significant amounts to bring the Olympics to the territory of the Republic of Moldova,” Nicolae Mocanu claims.
He also specifies that TVR Moldova and other TV channels do not own the rights to broadcast the Olympic Games online, as they belong exclusively to Eurosport and HBO Max.
EXPLANATIONS FROM TVR
The TV channel representative claims that a “technical error” occurred at the moment when Denis Vieru was taking part in the competition, and it was fixed for the subsequent competitions.
“TVR Moldova re-broadcasts the competitions of athletes from both Romania and the Republic of Moldova. Due to the large number of competitions held simultaneously, not all of them can be covered by a single channel. As to certain athletes’ performances, it should be clear that the Romanian Television broadcasts both the athletes from Romania and those from the Republic of Moldova. However, two or three athletes can compete simultaneously, and the audience will not be able to watch all the three performances at once. Hence, only one of them will be chosen. We cannot cover hundreds of hours of the Olympics and stream all of them via a single channel. Even in Bucharest, where five channels are available, covering the Olympic events completely is impossible,” Mocanu specifies.
The TV channel’s director claims that all the criticism of the broadcast is unjustified, especially considering the efforts and amounts paid to provide public access to these competitions. He also insists that the TV broadcasting schedules are approved on the basis of the editorial policy of the public TV channel from Romania and taking into account that the athletes from both banks of the Prut were to take part in the competitions.
