"The seesaw season is open"! This Sunday, Internet users are smiling. With the beginning of Roland-Garros, broadcast on the group's channels France Télévisions during the day (and by Prime Video for night matches), it is the return of the famous "switch", this change from one channel to another on the public service stalled to the second. A tradition often mocked by viewers since it does not always intervene at the right time.
Ladies and gentlemen please take a seat La Bascule is ready for 2 weeks of tournament#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/NxIB6OLrtS
— La Bascule France TV (@LabasculeFTV) May 28, 2023
Perfect illustration this Sunday morning in the first round of the Parisian Grand Slam during the match between the French Constant Lestienne and Karen Khachanov, number 11 seed of the tournament. Twice during this hard-fought five-set match in which the Russian won, we went from France 3 to France 4 and then from France 4 to France 2 in the middle of a point. Enough to annoy the most passionate and make the least involved smile.
"All it takes is a few unforeseen events... »
These two moments of TV did not go unnoticed on social networks. The account "La Bascule France TV" also has fun listing all the unusual seesaws like those of this morning. "The seesaw starts very strong this year", "the seesaw gives us a masterclass again", "the 2023 vintage promises to be exceptional", we find in comment, even if some temper: "Technically, it must be a hell of a headache".
Not wrong. Because the schedules of the three channels of the France Télévisions group have been set to the nearest second for many weeks, and it is impossible to turn back, as Pascal Golomer, deputy director of sports at France Télévisions, had already explained to us at the time of the 2021 Olympic Games. "If we don't make the switch, France 2 viewers who want to see their news won't be happy either. We have to make choices and hope that everything combines well but it only takes a few unforeseen events for the seesaw to find itself in the middle of an event, "he decrypted.
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With 15 days of competitions on the program and nearly nine hours of live each day, we risk hearing several times "it's time for the switch" from the mouth of the presenter Laurent Luyat... and therefore to see many other hiccups.