AP
Virat Kohli, left, celebrates his hundred during the World Cup Pool B match against Pakistan in Adelaide.
Public broadcaster Doordarshan (DD) can continue to share live feed of
cricket World Cup matches with private cable operators as the Supreme
Court on Friday granted a stay on the Delhi High Court order in this
regard.
The High Court had allowed the plea of Star India Ltd, which holds the
exclusive telecast rights of the Cricket world cup, and had asked Prasar
Bharati not to share the live feed of the matches with private cable
operators.
A bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi said that its order staying the
operation of the high court verdict will continue till it finally
decides the petition of public broadcaster Prasar Bharati.
On Thursday, Prasar Bharati had told the apex court that it was not
feasible to start a separate channel for showing the cricket world cup
matches.
Prior to that, the apex court had sought the response of the public
broadcaster on various suggestions mooted by Star India Ltd in this
regard. The suggestions included opening of a new DD channel for showing
the cricket matches.
Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the Centre and Prasar
Bharati, had told the court that it was mandatory for a private channel
under the Sports Act and the Cable TV Network Act to share the feeds of
matches of “national importance” with Prasar Bharati for providing it on
DD’s free-to-air terrestrial channels.
Earlier, the apex court had stayed the Delhi High Court judgement
barring Prasar Bharati from sharing with cable operators the live feed
of the 2015 Cricket World Cup, while asking Star India, BCCI and Prasar
Bharati to come out with their proposals to resolve the dispute.
“The position of 2007, we are maintaining it for a while.
We thought there is something to hear. We will not bring about a
situation abruptly. This arrangement under which DD shows free feed has
been there for the last seven years. Let it continue,” the bench had
said while staying the HC verdict.
Prasar Bharati had moved the Supreme Court challenging the February 4
Delhi High Court judgement which was passed on the plea of Board of
Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), ESPN and Star. They had contended
that cable operators were getting live feed free through DD channels,
resulting in loss of revenue for them.
The Hindu
