Television regulator OFCOM has sensationally cleared ITV for their incredible World Cup gaffe, which saw thousands of fans miss England’s first goal at the 2010 World Cup.
Those who had tuned into the ITV HD service, including myself were treated to a 10-second advert from the Korean car manufacturer Hyundai, which sponsored ITV’s coverage of the finals from South Africa. By the time the situation had been restored to normal, England captain Steven Gerrard had already steered England into a 4th minute lead against the United States in Rustenberg.
As a consequence of this fault, plus the previous glaring error when millions missed Dan Gosling’s extra-time winner for Everton against Liverpool in a 2009 FA Cup 4th Round Replay, ITV will now be fitting foolproof covers on key buttons in its control room, to stop anymore fiascos like these during live televised events.
A full investigation was launched into the event afterwards, with OFCOM receiving 800 complaints over the incident. Having listened to ITV’s explanation of what happened on June 12th, the media regulator has accepted their reason as valid and cleared them of any blame and wrongdoing. ITV insist that the incident was down to “human error” and due to the precautions they will be putting in, this kind of incident will never happen again. I am not convinced whether that will be the case, as ITV have a proven track record for missing key events and angering many fans in the process.
ITV also said that 90% of those who watched the England v USA game were not affected by the glitch, as they were watching the game in standard definition. Nevertheless, although it is something that everyone hopes will never be repeated again, it does leave another stain on ITV’s football coverage, which has suffered several moments of misfortune and inadequacy since they began their association with the FA in the autumn of 2008.
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