Prasar Bharati to make a bank guranatee of Rs. 200mn to ESPN

Source: MM (Media Mughals) Network, By: IndianTelevision.com

Dated: 4^th October, 2012

Prasar Bharati has been asked by The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) to make a bank guarantee of RS 200mn to ESPN software. The directive for the payment follows the dispute with regard to the live broadcast of important cricket matches on Doordarshan.

Earlier the public broadcaster had contested ESPN's payment demand about the revenue sharing coming from advertisement when cricket ran simultaneously on Doordarshan and ESPN. Prasar Bharati contested the demand in terms of violating the provisions of the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Act, 2007.

TDSAT has however barred ESPN from making a demand of the payment without their approval.

Prasar Bharati is required to share 75 per cent of the advertisement revenue from live cricket matches telecast by it and the rights for which are held by another broadcaster under the Act. The Tdsat order is, however, not clear on the tournament or matches for whom Prasar Bharati has declined to share its advertising revenue with ESPN.

Defending Prasar Bharati, its solicitor argued that ESPN and International Cricket Council(ICC) have violated Rule 3 of the Act as it (ICC) continues to give its advertisements and its logo.

The Section 3 of the Act provides that no content rights owner or holder and no television or radio broadcasting service provider shall carry a live television broadcast on any cable or direct-to-home (DTH) network or radio commentary broadcast in India of sporting events of national importance, unless it simultaneously shares the live broadcasting signal, without its ads, with Prasar Bharati to enable them to re-transmit the same on its terrestrial and DTH networks in such manner and on such terms and conditions as may be specified.

Link:http://www.mediamughals.com/News/1/1/Article/10795/Prasar_Bharati_to_make_a_bank_guranatee_of__Rs._200mn__to_ESPN.htm