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MUMBAI / NEW DELHI: India cricket rights holder Nimbus today
warned the BCCI that it would demand compensation for "dilution
of the value of its property" if the issue of encryption
of Doordarshan's terrestrial signal is not sorted out.
The move by the sports broadcaster to protect its $ 612 million
acquisition came even as Prasar Bharati today failed to reach
a consensus on the issue of setting encryption mandates for
Doordarshan's terrestrial signals.
In a letter sent to the BCCI today, Nimbus has demanded that
the Indian cricket board sort out the encryption issue with
Doordarshan. It argues that unless the feed is encrypted,
other channels in the region can pick it up and not pay a
penny.
A company executive clarified to Indiantelevision.com that while
Nimbus was willing to abide by the terms of the Bill making
it mandatory for Nimbus to share live feed with Prasar Bharati,
it had sought guarantees from the board on two points: encryption
of DD's signal and assurances that the sports feed would not
be given to the pubcaster's DTH service DD Direct.
"We have sought written assurances that our cable and
DTH rights will not be affected and that this will be in place
before the next series commences. If not, we will expect compensation
for the dilution in value of the rights we have acquired,"
the executive said.
BCCI chief and union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar appeared
to agree with Nimbus' line of reasoning when, in a subsequent
interaction with the media, he said, "The (cricket) signal
is freely available everywhere. There are certain contracts
with neighbouring countries and broadcasters that have no
value because everywhere the concern is, 'it is freely available
so why should we pay'."
Pawar said the BCCI had formed a committee to review the
telecast row and would submit its report in a few days.
Meanwhile, a technical sub-group set up by the Union Cabinet
and headed by All India Radio director-general Brajeshwar
Singh met this afternoon but failed to reach a conclusive
decision. Unless there is some intervention by Prasar Bharati
chief executive Officer BS Lalli, the sub-group will submit
a report by the end of the week about the failure to reach
a consensus.
The purpose of setting mandates for the encryption was suggested
after private broadcasters said sharing live sporting events
with DD leads to piracy.
The Union Cabinet had suggested while setting up the sub-group
that DD signals should be encrypted in a manner that only
DD’s terrestrial transmitting centres receive the feeds.
The Sports Broadcasting (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati)
Ordinance had been promulgated early last month making it
mandatory for private broadcasters to share live and clean
feed with Prasar Bharati for sporting events of national importance,
after Nimbus Communications which owns Neo Sports channel
refused to share the live India-West Indies feed with Doordarshan.
Subsequent to that, a Bill was tabled in Parliament on 1 March.
It is learnt that encryption of signals for a particular
channel is an accepted practice overseas.
ESPN Star, Nimbus and Zee, among other broadcasters, had demanded
that DD signals be encrypted as the public broadcaster had
a reach spanning a vast area from West Asia to Singapore.
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