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NEW
DELHI: A clarificatory notification may be issued shortly
by the information and broadcasting ministry to reiterate
that the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with
Prasar Bharati) Bill making it mandatory for private channels
to share live sports feed with the public broadcaster also
includes Twenty20 cricket.
A
senior ministry source told indiantelevision.com that though
this was clear in the Bill approved by Parliament earlier
this year, viewers of Doordarshan had not been able to see
the recent Twenty20 World Cup because ESPN Star Sports refused
to share the feed.
During
his speech Parliament, I&B minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi
had said the legislation would cover all sports and not merely
be cricket-specific. He had said it was important to share
signals with Prasar Bharati as only Doordarshan had a reach
to 98 per cent of the area through its terrestrial network.
He said it was wrong to assume that private channels would
lose out financially in sharing the feed with Doordarshan,
as the public broadcaster would give 75 per cent of the revenue
with the rights holder.
The
Bill was given retrospective effect from November 2005 when
the Uplinking and Downlinking Guidelines had been issued.
Under
the Bill, television channels that fail to comply would have
to pay a penalty up to Rs 1 crore and also face possible revocation
or suspension of license. It has also been stipulated that
no action of the government would be challenged in any court
of law.
The
Guidelines for downlinking of TV channels had been issued
on 11 November, 2005 and the Uplinking Guidelines had been
issued on 12 December, 2005. These Guidelines are already
the subject matter of the petition in the Delhi High Court
by Nimbus Communications on the Indo-West Indies series telecast.
Nimbus, which owns the Neo Sports channels, had expressed
apprehensions that the government may resort to coercive methods
for share their exclusive feed.
The
Bill provides for a revenue sharing formula between private
and public broadcasters. Advertisement sharing between private
and the public broadcasters would be in the ratio of 75:25
in case of TV coverage in favour of the rights holder and
50:50 in case of radio coverage.
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