The Supreme Court has upheld a Delhi high court ruling of 2015 and said that Prasar Bharti, which runs national broadcaster Doordarshan, can air the feed it gets from private sports broadcasters only on its terrestrial network and on its own DTH (Direct To Home) platform, Free Dish.
Star India Pvt Ltd, which had filed the original case in 2007 along with Nimbus Communications Ltd, ESPN Software India Pvt. Ltd, and the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI), and other sports broadcasters stand to benefit from the decision.
In 2012, Star paid Rs3,851 crore for the television, mobile, and internet rights all BCCI-organized matches between 2012 and 2018.
The ruling means Prasar Bharti cannot share the feed its gets from rights owners such as Star on Doordarshan channels that have to be compulsorily carried by all cable and DTH companies.
Under the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Act, 2007 (The Sports Act, 2007), private broadcasters are obliged to share live broadcasting signals of sporting events of national importance with Prasar Bharati.
But section 8 of the Cable Television Networks Act makes it mandatory for all cable operators to carry two Doordarshan channels.
This meant that cable operators got access to the broadcast of sporting events through two different channels, one through the channels of ESPN/Star, or other sports broadcasters, for which they have to pay subscription fees and the other via the channels of Doordarshan which are free.
Star said that it had no objections to the sports telecasts being carried on Doordarshan’s terrestrial channel and its own DTH service.
But it said Prasar Bharti’s decision to carry the feed on other Doordarshan channels led to a loss in subscription and advertising revenue for it.
Uday Shankar, chairman and chief executive officer, Star India said: “The real issue for us was unfairness which has been plugged with this verdict. It is difficult to put a financial value on the gain out of this judgement. The mandatory sharing provision was created for those who could not afford to pay for cable TV subscription. A provision that was made for terrestrial consumers was being misused till now.”
Shashi Shekhar Vempati, chief executive officer at Prasar Bharati said his organisation was “studying the verdict” and would take “appropriate measures.”
A top executive at a private sports channel who asked not to be identified said that the verdict, while fair, perhaps strengthens the hand of sports channels a little too much.
“It is good news for the private broadcasters and it will certainly help the networks bring back audiences to their channels. However, this may lead to unreasonable pricing of sports channels especially during important events, given that sports broadcasters will now have no competition. While subscription revenue from metro cities may go up, high prices of channels will push tier II audiences to Free Dish.”
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