India?s success at the ICC Twenty20 World Cup is, ironically, set to end the party for private sports broadcasters, who enjoy exclusivity over telecasts of the fast-paced format. The government will now include the shorter version of the game on the ?must-share? list with public broadcaster Doordarshan.
Official sources told FE that the recent success of the Indian team and the T20 format?s rising popularity had prompted the information & broadcasting ministry to take steps in order to have future matches simultaneously telecast live on DD, its free-to-air DTH platform, as well on All-India Radio.
If the I&B ministry goes ahead and notifies the T20 format under the must-share clause, several private broadcasters will be directly affected and their revenues are likely to take a hit. These include ESPN-Star Sports that holds the ICC broadcast rights until 2015 and which telecast the recent T20 World Cup. Others who could be affected include the Zee group, which is planning T20 tournaments under its recently launched Indian Cricket League (ICL).
Indian cricket board BCCI, which is starting a rival Indian Premier League (IPL) from next April, will also suffer a setback as its version also follows the 20-over format. While BCCI is yet to allot telecast rights for the IPL, a must-share clause is certain to reduce the money that the board would garner from auctioning broadcast rights.
An official of industry body Indian Broadcasting Foundation told FE that broadcasters were against any compulsory sharing with DD. ?It is not fair. The government should not interfere in such matters and DD should negotiate terms and conditions independently with broadcasters,? the official said.
Under the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing With Prasar Bharati) Act, 2007, ?no content rights owner or holder and no television or radio broadcasting service provider shall carry a live television broadcast on any cable or DTH network or radio commentary broadcast in India of ?sporting events of national importance?, unless it simultaneously shares the live broadcasting signal, without its advertisements, with the Prasar Bharati to enable them to re-transmit the same on its terrestrial networks and DTH networks.?