The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Tuesday agreed to allow Indian TV channels to attend the high-voltage World Cup semifinals between India and Pakistan tomorrow, following a request from Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni.
Soni on Tuesday stepped in to resolve the ongoing tussle between the ICC and the electronic media, which was barred by ICC from covering tomorrow's semi-final. Soni held a meeting with the representatives of the News Broadcasters Association this morning and then wrote a letter to Pawar requesting him to allow the electronic media to cover the event. She proposed a 24-hour 'truce' in a dispute created by Indian non-rights holders (NRH), breaching the terms and conditions they had agreed to follow when they were awarded accreditation for the World Cup.
"I&B Minister Ambika Soni will convene a meeting at the ministry on March 31 to address the dispute which has been caused by repeated and serious breaches of the terms and conditions," ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat said.
The ICC had cancelled the accreditation of broadcast journalists for covering the semi-finals and finals of the 2011 World Cup. In an email to broadcast journalists late Monday night, the cricket body cancelled official approval for the coverage for all remaining matches without giving any reason.
An ICC spokesman said several broadcast journalists were not adhering to the code of conduct and the media guidelines they had signed for accreditation. It was believed 20-25 leading channels will be affected by this ban.