There are debates whether squash can or can't be transmitted in TV in high quality. I've never understood the debate because Jean De Lierre's transmissions (squashlive.com) have shown how squash can be presented in an extremely enjoyable and highly professional manner. Does anybody remember the constantly fixed central camera of the psalive.tv transmissions? So sad! The camera, even the main central one, has to follow slightly the movement of the players in order to allow to the TV spectators to feel themselves involved, present at the event. This is how they do in tennis transmissions, and this what De Lierre's cameramen do on a very high standard (see below sample between Karim Darwish and Wael El Hindi where even though a fixed camera is present too, but mainly it is the moving one that we see). De Lierre is also a master of editing/switching between the different camera views. Psasquashtv.com picture-wise is a huge improvement compared to the obsolete psalive.tv, but the central camera is unfortunately still inert and there are many other serious issues too. First one: the site gives very little and inaccurate information about the starting times of the live matches. Second one: in general there are no written infos about the tournaments (previews, analysis, draws, etc.) Third: highlights and replays are uploaded with intolerable delays (tennistv.com produces them the same day of the match). And the main issue: the absence of any court colour codes which at times makes the game just unwatchable - as it was the case at the last Sky Open in Cairo a couple of weeks ago. This is something that PSA should implement immediately and with no exceptions towards the tournament organizers. The right example is already set: the homogeneous brown flour of the 2009 Super Series Finals in London has a perfect tone, as you can see it in the video below. Compared to this the dark red floor of the Canary Wharf tournament is slightly too intense (aggressive) for the eye, the non-homogeneous brown of the 2009 Saudi tournament is a non-sense (regardless of the eventual anti-slipping qualities of the floor). I don't say the colour code of the floor shall be set to one only colour, but it should be set to one only tone! This means that the saturation and contrast level (compared to the white ball) shall be determined severely in order to create a reliable basis for the transmissions. This is such a basic question, and not even really fund-depending. That it is not regulated yet, shows the low degree of professionalism within the PSA board. I don't feel good to edit such a 'negative note' on my blog, but it is for the love of the sport, with the hope that some responsible ears will get to hear about it and change the unlucky situation.
