KEY POINTS:
The camera angles suck, the commentary's over the top and Home and Away fans aren't happy at losing their weekly omnibus.
But with hundreds of thousands tuning in to the Rugby World Cup coverage, TV3 probably doesn't care.
Some Herald readers have suggested the distant view - in
which rucks resemble ants crawling on a green kitchen bench heading for spilt honey - stems from the French soccer coverage where wide angles are necessary in case of a kick down field.
TV3 spokesman Roger Beaumont said the camera work is out of the station's control as it is provided by the host broadcaster.
He said there may have been one or two complaints about the camera angles, "but I'm not aware of any significant number of calls."
The channel has received assurances that the disturbances to the satellite feed during the Italy versus All Blacks game have been fixed and should not happen again, Mr Beaumont said.
Other complaints have reached the station from Home and Away fans who would normally watch re-runs of the Aussie soap on Sunday.
The rugby has elbowed the soap, which usually has an "omnibus Sunday" show spot at 10.15am, and between 40 and 50 people complained to the station.
But with TV3 recording ratings of 650,000 for the All Blacks versus Italy match and 310,000 for the France versus Argentina match, Mr Beaumont said: "Rugby was the winner on the day".
According to AC Nielson data, the half hour of Rugby World Cup replays pulled in an average of over 170,000 viewers, compared to last Sunday's average of Home and Away viewers of 68,500.
The feedback on TV3's coverage had run to eight pages on nzherald.co.nz by mid-afternoon.
Hamish McKay has come in for a bit of stick. Some viewers have said his commentary is over-enthusiastic.
But new kid on the block Andrew Mehrtens has been praised for his insight and intelligent interview questions. Viewers also seem to appreciate Grant Fox's comments.
One of the 115,000 viewers watching the Argentina versus France replay on Sunday said he was unlucky enough to see an ad for Three News in the break. The ad gave the final score of the game he was watching.
"In future, that won't happen again. That was an unintentional error on our part," Mr Beaumont said.