NEW DELHI: The government proposes. Ten Sports disposes. And, the courts find themselves in a bind. Most of the time this could be story of cricket telecasts involving India.
Now that Ten Sports, which has exclusive rights to telecast the upcoming India-West Indies cricket series, has again moved the Supreme Court today seeking to restrain Prasar Bharti from downlinking the live feed of the matches (read sharing with Doordarshan), the government is likely to act tough.
A Bench comprising Justices Ashok Bhan and LK Panta posted the matter for hearing on Tuesday (9 May) asking Solicitor General GE Vahanvati to seek proper instructions on the issue as the Dubai-based sports channel has declined to provide the link without payment, a report put out by Press Trust of India states.
The private channel filed an application contending that if the matches of the Test and one-day international series were simulcast on Doordarshan, it will suffer a huge loss.
The petitioner said it has already sold the distribution right to Set Discovery Pvt Ltd, which will have the right to license throughout the country.
Interestingly, Ten Sports has taken refuge behind an earlier SC judgment, saying if interim relief was not granted to it this time round, a judgment the court delivered before the recent Indo-Pak series would become infructuous.
Taj Television Ltd, owner of Ten Sports, had filed the petition seeking stay of the government guidelines making it mandatory for the sports channels to share feed of sporting events of national importance with Prasar Bharati.
The court had allowed the live telecast of Indo-Pak ODIs on DD after an agreement was reached between Ten Sports and Prasar Bharati that latter would deposit in court a sum of Rs 150 million and carry the “dirty” Ten signals in toto without booking any advertisement of its own.
During a brief hearing today, according to PTI, the Bench observed that last time it was a series with Pakistan and “matches of Indo-Pak series are different from the others.” It added, “For West Indies, many people may not be interested.”
Contacted by Indiantelevision.com, Prasar Bharati CEO KS Sarma refused to comment on the matter saying it was sub judice.
However, government sources indicated that the I&B ministry is unlikely to bend down easily this time round.
A source familiar with the developments said, “The government’s plea before the court would be to uphold the downlink guidelines, which are in the process of being implemented.”
The downlink guidelines state that events of national importance, including cricket, will have to be shared with the pubcaster on a mandatory basis. The ministry has come out with the listed events also, which has been upon after consulting industry stakeholders.
In an earlier petition in a Mumbai court, Ten Sports has challenged the validity and legality of the downlinking guidelines terming it as arbitrary without the authority of law.
The sports channel had challenged the Bombay High Court order of 21 December 2005 refusing it any relief. Later the matter pending before the High Court was transferred to the apex court.
