Channels have to share live feed with DD, AIR

In a move which will have an adverse impact on advertising revenues of sports channels ,the Union Cabinet has passed an Ordinance making it mandatory for private sports broadcasters to share live feed of sporting events with Prasar Bharati-which includes Doordarshan and All India Radio.

The channels have to share feed of all sporting events of 'national importance' which includes games like cricket, football, hockey, tennis amongst others as defined by the government.

In the case of cricket the cabinet has made it mandatory to share feed for all one day international matches involving India abroad.

International cricket matches held abroad have been exempted from the ordinance's preview. However, for international cricket matches held in India both one -dayers as well as test matches have to be shared with Doordarshan.

The move industry experts say will have the worst impact on Neo Sports-which has all the rights for international matches in India. ESPN-Star on the other hand will not have to share feed for test matches which India plays abroad.

Says R C Venkateish Managing Director of ESPN Star Sports, "We welcome the move as we will have some matches which are exclusive. In fact we wanted a middle way and had suggested the same."

Reacting cautiously to the Ordinance, Neo Sports' official spokesperson said, "We welcome a law that lays down fair and equitable rules for sports rights sharing but we can only comment in detail after the law or Ordinance is actually made public."