The Delhi High Court today refused to grant interim stay on the sharing of live feed with Doordarshan for the upcoming India-South Africa cricket series, the exclusive broadcast rights of which are with ESPN-Star Sports (ESS).Issuing notices to the government and Prasar Bharati, Justice Anil Kumar posted the matter for hearing on Nov 21.ESS had approached the court seeking to restrain Doordarshan from downlinking the live feed of the series beginning November 19.The sports channel had challenged the government's downlinking policy which makes it mandatory for the private broadcaster to share its feed of all sporting events of national importance with Prasar Bharati.The court directed the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Prasar Bharati and Ministry of Youth and Sports to respond to the contentions of ESS within four days.Advocate Rajeev Sharma accepted the notice on behalf of the public broadcaster.The court did not accept ESS counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi's arguments for granting stay on the sharing of live feed with the DD, saying that it will hear the response of the rival parties before passing any order. (PTI)
