There is a new war brewing in sports broadcasting. Between private sports broadcasters and state-owned Prasar Bharati. And if the latter is victorious, private sports broadcasters stand to lose. Substantially.
Earlier this week, the information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry proposed an amendment to the decade-old Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Act, 2007. The Act requires private sports broadcasters such as Star India and Sony to share their live feeds of sporting events that are of national importance with the public broadcaster. Prasar Bharati, which runs television network Doordarshan (DD) and All India Radio, then retransmits the broadcast signals on its terrestrial network and its own direct-to-home (DTH) platform, DD Free Dish.