• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Our Bureau

Advertisement

New Delhi Feb 9 Nimbus Communications has filed a petition in the Delhi High Court calling for a judicial review of the Sports Broadcast Signal (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Ordinance 2007.

The Ordinance, which was promulgated by the Government last week, came soon after Nimbus refused to share its live telecast with Prasar Bharati and went to court challenging the existing uplinking guidelines that made it mandatory for telecast right holders to share feed with the national broadcaster.

Currently, Doordarshan continues to receive a feed, late by seven-and-a-half minutes from Nimbus's own live telecast on its channel, Neo Sports, as per the Delhi High Court's interim order delivered before the Ordinance.

Mr Harish Thawani, CEO of Nimbus, said that this arrangement is to stay till Monday, when the matter is scheduled to come up for hearing again in the Delhi High Court.

The marketing arrangement, with Nimbus selling Doordarshan's telecast in a 75-25 revenue sharing arrangement in favour of Nimbus, is also likely to continue till the end of the Indo-Lanka series.

The petition seeks to squash the Ordinance on the ground that it cannot be applied to matches played outside India, as it has no jurisdiction to control telecast signals outside the country, and that it violates the broadcaster's right to free speech and expression and its intellectual property rights.

Last February, Nimbus acquired the broadcast rights to BCCI's matches till 2010 for $612 million.

Meanwhile, Prasar Bharati has written to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting complaining that the right holder's refusal to share live feed was a violation of the Ordinance.

According to sources, the Ministry is contemplating issuing a notice to Nimbus. The private broadcaster said on Friday evening that it had received no notice yet.

More Stories on : Corporate Disputes | Courts/Legal Issues | Radio/TV | Sports

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Nimbus challenges sports feed Ordinance

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line