The Hindu Business Line : Telecast rights: Private sports channels unhappy with mandatory sharing norms

PRIVATE sports broadcasters are concerned about the negative impact that the recently notified norms on mandatory sharing of telecast rights with Prasar Bharati would have on their revenues.

Currently, revenues from sports broadcasting stand at Rs 600-700 crore annually, but the loss incurred due to the new norms would depend on the events that the Government chooses.

Mr R.C. Venkateish, Managing Director, ESPN Software India, told Business Line, "We are concerned about the new law being applied on events for which the bids have already been finalised and contracts have been signed. We feel that the norms must be applied on a prospective basis and not on a retrospective basis."

IPR violations: The industry is concerned about intellectual property rights (IPR) violations due to the new guidelines. "This clause of sharing rights with the national broadcaster has not been built into old contracts and therefore there could be IPR violations," said an industry official. In fact, some of the international cricket boards as well as broadcasters had expressed concern regarding IPR violations.

Besides this, sports broadcasters are also keen that the Government gives them a reasonable window of exclusivity.

"Earlier Prasar Bharati had agreed to airing only the One Day International (ODI) matches live and not the test matches. We hope the Government continues on that policy," added Mr Venkateish.

Also, the industry is keen that the Government is very careful in drawing up the list of events of national importance.

Sharing content: Meanwhile, broadcasters such as Sony and ESPN have been sharing content with Doordarshan for various cricket series.

Sony is reported to have said that sharing of rights has already been built into the value of the events they hold, including the World Cup.

Public interest: Prasar Bharati said that the new policy is in public interest.

"I have always maintained that revenues of private channels would not be impacted by the mandatory sharing of rights policy.

"Last year, ESPN had entered into a pre-bid agreement with us before pitching for the four-year BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) rights. But that did not stop them from bidding high.

"Similarly, this year too, despite entering into sharing agreements, both Zee Telefilms and ESPN have bid competitively," said Mr K.S. Sarma, CEO, Prasar Bharati.

He further added that even under the new guidelines, private broadcasters would continue to have certain events that would remain exclusive to them.

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