Hindustan Times writes: ICC calls meet for DD rollback
ICC is organizing a meeting in Dubai on January 11 to discuss the Indian Government's satellite television uplinking policy which forces private satellite channels to share the cricket feed with the state run Doordarshan terrestrial channels.
My view is that Indian Government may not be in a position to force satellite channels to share specified rights as it may violate some International covenants. For example, a satellite channel may not even have bought the terrestrial rights. Doordarshan then cannot force that satellite channel to share the feed for terrestrial broadcasts.
The concerned foreign cricket board can demand Doordarshan to pay cash for terrestrial broadcasts, as opposed to Doordarshan's favourite method of revenue sharing. Some cricket board will have to test Doordarshan and Indian Government in a court. It cannot be done by one person (satellite broadcaster) alone.
The BCCI's opinion now seems to be that if DD hasn't won the rights but is only being a parasite [acc. to govt. law], then it shouldn't have any ads. That could boomerang on the BCCI because people will definitely prefer watching cricket minus the ads.
ReplyDeleteGiven DD's reach being more than ESPN-Star, Zee Sports, SET Max, TEN Sports etc., the actual winner of the rights could end up with a minimal audience.