ITV

Tag: Taj Sports

  • Telecast row: all eyes on SC now

    Telecast row: all eyes on SC now

    NEW DELHI: After the day started like a Sehwag-Sachin hurricane inning with developments happening fast in the first 15 overs of the match, as the day progressed, the run rate had slowed down. Though government officials were in a meeting with the attorney-general in the evening, the sign of an out-of-court settlement receded in the background.

    Pointing out that there were signs of an out of court settlement earlier in the day, a government source admitted, “Now both the parties seem to be waiting for a verdict from the Supreme Court.”The source also indicated that if any settlement is to be worked out by the two warring factions at this juncture — that needs to be conveyed to the apex court — it would have to be done within the framework of any direction that SC sets.

    A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, headed by the Chief Justice of India, would take up tomorrow for another round of hearing a Special Leave Petition filed by Taj Sports India Pvt. Ltd., which pertains to telecast rights of the ongoing Indo-Pakistan cricket series in the light of a Chennai high court verdict that said signals should be made available to pubcaster Doordarshan.

    The government source, while admitting that “sanctity of contractual obligations need to be honoured,” added in the same vein that there had been “no strong reciprocity from their (Ten’s) side” to come to an understanding with DD.

    Taj Sports India, through its representatives, have reiterated over the last few days that a offer was made to DD, which was turned down.

    The offer envisaged having the match feeds from a satellite that did not go across many countries and that would be downlinked to low power transmitters through decoder boxes supplied by ten to cater to areas where cable penetration is low. In the metros and other big cities, the satellite signals from Ten Sports would have to be distributed by cable operators.

    The government source, on its part, insisted that government intervention should not be read as “bullying tactics” as the cricket series has been “facilitated by the governments of India and Pakistan.” The source added: “The problem is not so insurmountable.”

    In a surprising move, today morning Taj TV Ltd. Struck a conciliatory note when its owner AR Bukhatir said that he hoped Indians would get to watch all the matches — a stand in sharp contrast to the stridency shown yesterday by Taj’s Indian associates who had spoken about a possibility of blacking out the total Indian region for Tuesday’s match.

    It is learn that Prasar Bharati board, during its meeting on Friday in Mumbai, has okayed a proposal wherein DD can offer up to $ 15 million for terrestrial rights of the cricket matches.

    Now, all eyes are on SC when it pronounces a verdict tomorrow. The judgement is likely to become a guiding force for similar cases related to telecast rights in future.

  • Taj Sports’ Bukhatir assures efforts to give Pakistan TV cricket feed

    Taj Sports’ Bukhatir assures efforts to give Pakistan TV cricket feed

    MUMBAI: Will it, won’t it (Ten Sports)? Hold firm on the Pakistan cricket telecast rights issue that is.

    Dubai-based Taj Television, which manages Ten Sports and holds telecast rights for Pakistan cricket, has so far resisted pressures from India’s Prasar Bharati (managing Doordarshan and All India Radio) to get the matches telecast on DD as well.

     
    But if the news emanating from Pakistan is anything to go by, day by day, that pressure is building. Chairman of Taj TV Abdulrahman Bukhatir today had a three-hour meeting with the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Shaharyar M Khan over what else but Indias forthcoming tour of Pakistan. PCB chief executive Ramiz Raja, Taj TV chief executive Chris McDonald, CBFS chief executive Zahid Noorani and PCB marketing consultant Riaz Mahmood were also present at the meeting.

    According to a statement released the PCB, Bukhatir has been quoted as saying: “I assure the PCB of the sensitivity to the need for the people of Pakistan to which these matches on television in the largest possible numbers, and I assure that efforts are already well underway for PTV to carry the signal.”

    The question of course is if the matches can be shown on PTV, what happens if DD also demands the same “courtesy”. Stay tuned for more on the high-stakes game that is being played out over this issue.

  • Prasar Bharati wants law mandating sharing of sports telecast rights by private TV channels

    Prasar Bharati wants law mandating sharing of sports telecast rights by private TV channels

    Stung by telecast rights holder like World Sports Group Nimbus and Taj Sports (managing Ten Sports channel) not willing to play ball, Prasar Bharati has decided to appeal to the third umpire – the Indian government – seeking a “level playing field” in the name of larger interest of the viewing Indian public.

    “The Prasar Bharati board has decided to ask the government to come out with a legal framework, ahead of the enactment of the Communication Convergence Bill, which would make it mandatory for the satellite and cable rights holder(s) to share the feed (of events felt important for Indian viewers) with Doordarshan’s terrestrial network,” Prasar Bharati chief executive K.S. Sarma said today.

    The Prasar Bharati oversees the working of pubcasters DD and All India Radio. Despite its corporatisation, which was modelled on British pubcaster BBC, the government (read the information and broadcasting ministry) still retains control over the functioning of DD and AIR. 

    Addressing a press conference in Delhi on Friday, Sarma said that the government, in consultation with the Prasar Bharati will decide on the events which are telecast worthy and of importance to the Indian viewers and will notify them which will make it mandatory for telecast rights holder to share them with DD and/or AIR.

    Pointing out that Parasar Bharati cannot afford to pay “large and heavy fee” to acquire telecast rights, a la private satellite channels, Sarma said, “Instead, we’d prefer to go in for revenue sharing (with the company that markets the events telecast on DD).”

    In recent times, Prasar Bharati has lost out on the live telecast of the ongoing soccer World Cup and is also under severe pressure from World Sports Group Nimbus on the issue of rights of ICC-organised cricket matches, the cable and satellite TV rights which are held by Sony Entertainment TV for six years.

    According to Sarma, since the Prasar Bharati board has decided to refer the telecast issue to the government, the formal missive will “be sent soon.”

    However, he did not elaborate on the fact how the government can have a policy in isolation like this in place. 

    Chapter IX of the Communication Convergence Bill, 2001 details special provision in respect of certain services, specially live broadcasting of certain events.

    The clauses read: “For the purpose of ensuring the widest availability of viewing in India of a national or international event of general public interest to be held in India, the central government shall notify the same well in advance.

    “The national or international event of general public interest notified under sub-section (I) shall have to be carried on the network of a public service broadcaster as well. “In order to strive towards providing a level playing field for bidders for broadcasting rights or person interested in receiving broadcasting rights for events notified under sub-section(i), the Commission (the proposed super regulatory authority for IT, telecom and broadcasting areas) shall determine, well in advance of such an event, the principles and terms for the access to the network of public service broadcaster.”

  • B4U picks up terrestrial telecast rightsof FIFA World Cup from Taj Sports

    B4U picks up terrestrial telecast rightsof FIFA World Cup from Taj Sports

    Here’s yet another twist to the convoluted tale of national broadcaster Doordarshan’s bid to arrange World Cup soccer telecast. DD now has to deal with a new entrant on the scene – B4U Networks Ltd – which has secured the terrestrial telecast rights of the matches from Dubai-based Taj Sports, which promotes new kid on the block broadcaster Ten Sports.

    While refusing to divulge the financial terms of the purchase of rights from Ten Sports, B4U chief distribution officer Debashish Dey said that come what may, the Indian public would get to see all the World Cup matches. And that too on DD.

    Said he: “We have picked up the terrestrial rights for World Cup soccer and B4U is committed to the Indian masses. We cannot allow the soccer loving public to miss out on such a high quality sporting extravaganza, which happens only once every four years. ”

    Dey revealed there were three possibilities as far as the arrangement with DD regarding telecast was concerned: “We could sell the rights to DD, we could reach a revenue sharing deal; or if both fail to fructify, we will buy time slots on DD and show the matches.”

    Dey added that a major initiative that B4U was organising would be in the football-crazy Kolkata metro, where they were planning to show key matches in ten to 15 cinema halls in prominent locations of the city.

    Queried as to whether the six-hour delay in telecast that Taj Sports has stipulated would prove a disadvantage as far as marketing the event was concerned, Dey said because Japan was four hours ahead of India timewise, the match timings would in fact be a boon for B4U.

    In the capital meanwhile, a senior official of Prasar Bharati, told indiantelevision.com: “We have received intimation from B4U that for the terrestrial rights (of the soccer matches) we now have to negotiate with it instead of Ten Sports.”

    Pointing out that DD officials are looking into this new twist of events, the Prasar Bharati official added, “The soccer matches telecast saga is getting more curious by the day even as pressure is mounting on Prasar Bharati to resolve the telecast issue as soon as possible.”

    Though the official was not sure as to why Ten Sports, which had been negotiating with DD till recently, had brought in B4U in the ongoing talks, it was indicated that it may be because of the equations B4U’s chief executive Ravi Gupta had with the pubcaster.

    Not only does B4U have a working relationship with DD (B4U used to supply DD with movies till last year under an agreement since then expired and still has some programmes running on one of the DD channels), Gupta is the former head of National Film Development Corporation (NFDC), a unit under the information and broadcasting ministry which funds and markets Indian movies.

    B4U’s entry notwithstanding, if DD does manage to conclude some deal for the telecast of the soccer matches, it will have to be on a six-hour deferred basis.

    B4U taking charge of the responsibility to air the matches will probably make irrelevant moves by Indian political heavyweights like Das Munshi, closely associated with the All India Indian Football Federation (AIFF), who have been lobbying hard with Ten Sports and even FIFA itself so that some soccer matches can be telecast live on Doordarshan’s terrestrial network.

    Political sources said there is still the possibility that public interest litigation (PIL) may be filed to curb Ten Sports’ exclusivity on the telecast rights of the soccer matches. In India, this is an oft-used method to get temporary stay on proceedings. It may be recalled that when Kaun Banega Crorepati on Star Plus was ruling the airwaves, competition had various legal cases filed against the programme in different courts of the country on the basis that the game show “encouraged gambling.”

    That most of the cases got thrown out of the courts is another matter, but, in the short term, the Star Network had to undergo some inconvenience.