We'll pay for encryption - Indian board, Nimbus

The Board for Control of Cricket in India and Nimbus, which owns the telecast rights for cricket matches in India, have said they are ready to pay for encryption of signals on transmitters owned by Doordarshan, the national broadcaster. This offer came on a day when India's lower house of Parliament passed a broadcasting Bill that makes it mandatory for private broadcasters to share live feed of major sports events with Doordarshan and All India Radio on a free-to-air basis.

The long-running tangle between the BCCI and Nimbus, on one hand, and the Indian government on the other stems from the fact that signals from Doordarshan's transmitters are not encrypted, and so are freely available not just in India but in neighbouring countries as well - potentially undermining TV rights issues.

After a three-hour meeting in New Delhi today, BCCI vice-president Lalit Modi and Nimbus head Harish Thawani - while asserting that they had no problems with Doordarshan telecasting the live feed on its terrestrial channel with encryption - told reporters that they proposed to take care of encryption of signals on the 1400 transmitters of the public broadcaster throughout the country.

"We are offering to pay for encryption and let not the burden fall on the state broadcaster. We want to ensure that the signals of the terrestrial channel on all the 1400 transmitters of Doordarshan around the country are encrypted," Modi said

Thawani said encryption was technically "an easy job" and it would also help other sports in the future. "Encryption in 1400 transmitters would take 30 days, and at the most 60 days. It would cost about Rs 10 crore," he said. "If we do the encryption now, it would also help other sports. Today it is cricket that is affected. Tomorrow it may be football or tennis. Encryption will help all sports in the future."

However, both Modi and Thawani criticised the Sports Broadcasting Signals Bill, passed today, as "detrimental" to their business. The Bill provides for Doordarshan to retransmit feed from private broadcasters on its terrestrial networks and the DTH service.

Modi, also chairman of the BCCI marketing committee, said the bill would affect the long term incomes of BCCI, its partners, state associations as well as the players.

Thawani said the bill was "detrimental" to Nimbus' interests with regard to conditionalities on Direct-to-Home transmission and encryption of signals. He said the measure would be a one-time solution for such issues with relation to all sports in the future, not just cricket.