Doordarshan to be awarded terrestrial rights

In a significant development, the Indian government is about to pass a legislation stating that Doordarshan, the national broadcaster, and All-India Radio will get terrestrial rights for all cricket matches involving India, according to The Times of India. The approaching deadline for bids for the BCCI's television rights has probably hastened the government's decision to approve this law.

KS Sarma, the chief of Prasar Bharati (Doordarshan), said, "It will be mandatory for whoever gets the telecast rights for a cricket tournament featuring India to share the rights with Prasar Bharati." However, the rights will only be terrestrial ones, which means that private broadcasters, such as ESPN-Star or Ten Sports will have full rights for homes with cable television.

What's notable is that the bid for terrestrial rights will be non-competitive. In theory, Prasar Bharati will receive the rights regardless of the price they pay. But Sarma said that the state-run broadcaster plans to bid for cable rights as well. His organisation's contract, which was worth Rs2.5billion (US$54million), runs out next month, and the value of the next contract is expected to increase by 400%.

With so much money riding on it, the rights issue has been a contentious one for a while. As early as March this year, Ten Sports and Doordarshan were involved in a dispute regarding the telecast of the India-Pakistan series. Doordarshan alleged that Ten Sports had demanded a much larger amount from them than Pakistan's state-run television. After a seemingly interminable wait, both reached an agreement, but not before the government had indicated that cricket matches involving India should be broadcast by the national channel in `the public interest'. They had hinted then that a law would be passed to avoid future confrontations of this nature.