Sports channels gain from sharing feed with DD

Private broadcasters are reaping an unexpected bonanza as a result of the government's dictat that they share feed with Doordarshan for important events.

For the recently held cricket events, the DLF Cup in Abu Dhabi and the India-England series in India, the right holders "" Zee Sports and Nimbus Communications, respectively "" raked in an additional revenue of nearly Rs 50 crore by sharing the feed with the public broadcaster.

They key is the revenue-sharing formula, under which 75 per cent of the money earned from advertising on Doordarshan is passed on to the rights-holder.

When the idea of mandatory sharing had first been floated, private broadcasters had fought it tooth and nail. Ten Sports and ESPN Star had moved court, fearing a near-total loss of subscription and dip in advertising revenue.

For the DLF Cup, which included two One-Dayers between India and Pakistan, Zee Sports earned Rs 12 crore through advertising. Doordarshan, on the other hand, earned another Rs 13 crore, of which Rs 9.75 crore will go to Zee.

For the India-England series, Doordarshan earned Rs 53 crore, of which Rs 39.75 crore went to Nimbus, which also had the series telecast on Sahara One.

"While the satellite network is 55 million homes, the simultaneous DD telecast takes the reach beyond 100 million homes. The advertising inventory doubles," said Gaurav Seth, vice-president, marketing, Zee Sports.

Concurs Doordarshan Deputy Director-General Vijayalaxmi Chhabra: "The entire chunk of terrestrial homes that do not receive satellite channels are captured this way."

Sundar Raman, general manager with media buyer Mindshare, says broadcasters have begun to value the deal with DD. "This is good for the audience, advertisers and even the broadcasters," he says.