| NEW
DELHI: Harish Thawani's Neo Sports received a jolt as the India-Bangladesh cricket
event has become virtually non-exclusive, and its efforts to stem this via the
court met with a TataSky and Dish TV bouncer that the court allowed.
High drama
marked the broadcasting litigation arena today, as Nimbus moved the Delhi High
Court for a stay on TataSky showing the Bangladesh Vs India cricket series on
the their DTH platform. TataSky
lawyers, meanwhile, were absent, as they were busy with the final hearing of their
case with Sun TV, at the Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal today. However,
on hearing the attempt by Nimbus, they rushed to the court to respond to the stay
petition by the former. Nimbus
stated that TataSky was infringing upon the copyright of Neo Sports by showing
the matches on its platform, as they were proprietary. Nimbus
argued also that they only had an agreement with Prasar Bharati for feeding them
with the signals of live cricket coverage. TataSky,
however, argued that it was not involved in piracy of any kind, as they were only
showing Prasar Bharati's Doordarshan, which was telecasting the Neo coverage. TataSky
argued that as part of their licensing conditions, the DTH and cable operators
were bound to receive and beam signals from Prasar Bharati channels, which included
the one that was showing the India-Bangladesh matches. The
intent of the Act of the government was to give widest dissemination to the Prasar
Bharati channels, TataSky reminded the court, hence it was doing what the Act
intended in the public interest. Dish
TV and Wire & Wireless India Ltd (WWIL) reiterated that they have been carrying
DD signals since they started operations and that this was mandatory on DTH and
all cable platforms as a part of their licensing conditions. Incidentally,
Indiantelevision.com had earlier reported that DD was getting clear signals (that
is signals without the Neo logo and without the advertisements collected by Nimbus),
which is on the basis if the new act on sports coverage passed during this session
of the Parliament. This
DD coverage is being shown on all cables and all DTH platforms, as it is mandatory. After
hearing both parties the court told Nimbus that the first match is already over
and it had not come to court's doors earlier, and if at this stage the stay was
granted, consumers would suffer. The
court thus refused to grant a stay order and fixed a later date for hearing their
case. | 
