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DTH platforms can telecast Cricket matches - HC:yahoo:
Wednesday - Jun 27, 2007Televisionpoint.com Correspondent
The Direct-to-Home (DTH) viewers can watch the three-match India-South Africa cricket series Live, following a snub :thumbsup: to Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Nimbus Communications.
Justice Ajay Khanvilkar of the Bombay high court did not restrain DTH operators, Tata Sky and Dish TV, from telecasting Live the one-day internationals between India and South Africa and India and Pakistan.
The first of the three-match series between India and South Africa was played on Tuesday. The BCCI and Nimbus had moved the HC against the DTH operators, saying the Board, as the organiser and controller of these matches, and Nimbus, as the exclusive media rights holder, were the owner of all broadcasting rights for the Live telecast of India's cricket matches with South Africa and Pakistan.
The Board said it produced the television coverage signal for these matches and it held the copyrights in perpetuity. It said it had given the telecast rights of these four matches to Nimbus, which in turn gave it to Neo Sports with English commentary and four other channels with commentaries in regional languages.
Nimbus also has to share the Live feeds exclusively with Doordarshan and DD Plus, the DTH arm of Prasar Bharati. Sharing Live feed with DD is mandatory under the Sports Act of 2007 for wider free-to-air coverage.
The Board said the DTH operators could not carry signals of these matches unless authorised by it. The BCCI claimed that the Copyright Act would be violated if the DTH operators telecast the matches. But the DTH operators, riding happy on one of their licence conditions, argued that it was mandatory for them to carry free-to-air channels like DD and DD Plus.
Senior counsels Janak Dwarkadas and Darius Khambata, representing Dish and Tata Sky, respectively, argued successfully that their clients' licence conditions statutorily required them to carry the Prasar Bharati channels on which the cricket matches were being telecast. While, Tata Sky said it was re-transmitting the cricket telecast, Dish TV, said any of its viewers could pick up the signals by tuning in to DD.
Dwarkadas argued that Dish TV was not relaying or re-transmitting the signals of Doordarshan or DD Plus and that anyone with a Dish antenna tuning into the frequencies of DD and DD Plus could receive the signals. He said the May 29, 2007, directive issued by government of India to all DTH operators required them to carry the signals of DD-I and DD Plus because they were free-to-air channels.
"If we were not to carry the signals we would be in breach of our licence agreement,'' he added. He also said that if, according to the BCCI, the signals amounted to breach of their copyright, and with all broadcasters claiming similar copyrights, the government's directive to give the broadest and widest coverage to free-to-air channels would never be followed.
Wednesday - Jun 27, 2007Televisionpoint.com Correspondent
The Direct-to-Home (DTH) viewers can watch the three-match India-South Africa cricket series Live, following a snub :thumbsup: to Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Nimbus Communications.
Justice Ajay Khanvilkar of the Bombay high court did not restrain DTH operators, Tata Sky and Dish TV, from telecasting Live the one-day internationals between India and South Africa and India and Pakistan.
The first of the three-match series between India and South Africa was played on Tuesday. The BCCI and Nimbus had moved the HC against the DTH operators, saying the Board, as the organiser and controller of these matches, and Nimbus, as the exclusive media rights holder, were the owner of all broadcasting rights for the Live telecast of India's cricket matches with South Africa and Pakistan.
The Board said it produced the television coverage signal for these matches and it held the copyrights in perpetuity. It said it had given the telecast rights of these four matches to Nimbus, which in turn gave it to Neo Sports with English commentary and four other channels with commentaries in regional languages.
Nimbus also has to share the Live feeds exclusively with Doordarshan and DD Plus, the DTH arm of Prasar Bharati. Sharing Live feed with DD is mandatory under the Sports Act of 2007 for wider free-to-air coverage.
The Board said the DTH operators could not carry signals of these matches unless authorised by it. The BCCI claimed that the Copyright Act would be violated if the DTH operators telecast the matches. But the DTH operators, riding happy on one of their licence conditions, argued that it was mandatory for them to carry free-to-air channels like DD and DD Plus.
Senior counsels Janak Dwarkadas and Darius Khambata, representing Dish and Tata Sky, respectively, argued successfully that their clients' licence conditions statutorily required them to carry the Prasar Bharati channels on which the cricket matches were being telecast. While, Tata Sky said it was re-transmitting the cricket telecast, Dish TV, said any of its viewers could pick up the signals by tuning in to DD.
Dwarkadas argued that Dish TV was not relaying or re-transmitting the signals of Doordarshan or DD Plus and that anyone with a Dish antenna tuning into the frequencies of DD and DD Plus could receive the signals. He said the May 29, 2007, directive issued by government of India to all DTH operators required them to carry the signals of DD-I and DD Plus because they were free-to-air channels.
"If we were not to carry the signals we would be in breach of our licence agreement,'' he added. He also said that if, according to the BCCI, the signals amounted to breach of their copyright, and with all broadcasters claiming similar copyrights, the government's directive to give the broadest and widest coverage to free-to-air channels would never be followed.