The Hindu Business Line : Court to hear Nimbus, DD issue today

Contentious issues
The national broadcaster has maintained its stand that as per the uplinking guidelines right holders of big sporting events must share telecast feed with Doordarshan and All India Radio.
Nimbus has challenged the statutory value of the guidelines itself and has also claimed that the rule violated its fundamental rights

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New Delhi Jan. 22 In the backdrop of the deadlock over sharing cricket telecast feed of India-West Indies One-Day series, Prasar Bharati on Monday filed caveats in the Delhi and Mumbai High Courts and the Supreme Court against Nimbus Communications, which holds the rights to matches played in India.

Nimbus Communications has filed a petition in the Delhi High Court challenging the norms that make it mandatory to share telecast feed.

With the court hearing scheduled in Delhi on Tuesday and the next One-Day match in Cuttack on Wednesday, both DD and Nimbus claim to be still in dialogue.

The national broadcaster has maintained its stand that as per the uplinking guidelines of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, right holders of big sporting events must share telecast feed with Doordarshan and All India Radio. Nimbus has challenged the statutory value of the guidelines itself and has also claimed that the rule violated its fundamental rights under Article 14 (right to equality) and 19 (right to trade).

Nimbus, which won the media rights till 2010 from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for $612 million in February 2006, found support from the Board on Monday. Mr Niranjan Shah, Secretary, BCCI, told Business Line that the Board President and Union Agriculture Minister, Mr Sharad Pawar, was also in touch with the I&B Ministry to help find a solution.

Nimbus is maintaining its stand that DD's un-encrypted television signals can be tapped in countries outside where Nimbus has sold television rights to broadcasters. The company also claimed to have offered to share `clean signal' of the match played on Sunday with DD, with Nimbus reserving its rights to legal redress and to share radio feed at a revenue-sharing package of 75 to 25 in favour of Nimbus. Both the offers had been rejected by DD, claimed Nimbus.

"The blame therefore rests entirely with Doordarshan," the company said in an official release.