NEW DELHI, 16 March 2004 — A television distributor warned yesterday that it might not feed a live telecast of the second one-day India-Pakistan cricket match to India’s state-run Doordarshan channel, despite a ruling from India’s Supreme Court ordering it to do so.
Taj TV Pvt. Ltd. (India), an affiliate of the Dubai-based Ten Sports cable network that owns the rights to the live telecast, said it risked breaching its exclusive distribution deal with Ten Sports if it feeds today’s match live to the station.
Earlier, the Supreme Court ordered Taj TV to feed the one-dayer in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi live today, pending another hearing tomorrow.
Doordarshan’s broadcast of the Karachi match was also possible because of an intervention by the Supreme Court.
Advertisement revenues of Doordarshan from the broadcast of the Karachi match crossed 60 million rupees (about $1.33 million).
During arguments in the court yesterday, Taj TV said it had agreed before the Supreme Court on Friday to feed signals to Doordarshan only for the Karachi match. Taj TV also accused Doordarshan of dishonoring the Supreme Court directive by not displaying its logo and airing its ads during the broadcast of the Karachi match.
Doordarshan’s argument for permission to broadcast rested on “public interest” of Indian cricket fans.
The three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice V.N. Khare directed Doordarshan to carry the logo of Ten Sports as well as the advertisements carried in its telecast. The advertisements that are not permitted in India will not be shown, however.
The court also directed Prasar Bharati to deposit 100 million rupees within two days before the Registrar General of the Supreme Court for using signals and other facilities provided by Taj TV for the match.
Taj TV wanted the court to record its submission that in case live signals do not reach it for today’s match, it should not be held guilty of contempt of court.
“We do not want to pre-judge the issue. We will see if you are in contempt or not on Wednesday,” the bench said.
