Delhi High Court rules in favour of BCCI-Nimbus in Prasar Bharati case [Read the Judgment]

Hearing an appeal against the judgment of a single judge, the division bench consisting of Justices B.D. Ahmed and Vibhu Bakhru of Delhi High Court has ruled in favour of BCCI, Nimbus and ESPN/STAR. Both BCCI and Nimbus had objected to live cricket matches being shown on Doordarshan through cable operators. The judgment, which is to applied prospectively, may impact the live coverage of cricket matches which many users who do not possess a DTH or a terrestrial antenna and follow cricket matches on DD through a cable operator.It was in 2012 that BCCI and Nimbus entered into a contract regarding broadcasting rights of cricket matches. However, Nimbus was directed by the Government to share the feed of various live cricket matches with Doordarshan, which the consumers used to get across every platform, be it DTH, terrestrial antenna or through cable operators.Against such notifications issued by the government, both Nimbus and BCCI approached the Delhi High Court. They "sought a direction to be issued to Prasar Bharati Broadcasting Corporation and Union of India) to encrypt Doordarshan"s Satellite Transportation Feed of live broadcasting signals of cricket matches organized by BCCI to the Doordarshan Kendras and transmission towers throughout India for subsequent broadcasts on Doordarshan‟s terrestrial networks. A declaratory writ was also sought for declaring that no person other than Prasar Bharati had the right to transmit, relay or offer for exhibition, the live broadcasting signals of sports events shown by Prasar Bharati under the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Act, 2007 (hereinafter referred to as „the Sports Act‟). A declaration was also sought that no cable television network, Direct-to Home(DTH)Network, multi-system network or local cable operator could broadcast such sports events without a licence from the content owners. Finally, a direction was also sought against the respondent No.1 for notifying that the Doordarshan signals relayed live in respect of the sports event, including cricket matches notified under the Sports Act, should be carried on cable television networks, DTH Broadcasting networks, Multi system Cable Networks, etc. pursuant to Section 8 of the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995."However, the single judge of the High Court decided against BCCI-Nimbus and observed that sharing of feed was a matter of policy. At the same time, he held that if there was a violation of copyright, the copyright owners had the option of seeking remedies. Interestingly, "The learned single Judge, however, refrained from giving any opinion as to whether the non encryption of Doordarshan‟s Satellite Transportation Feed of Live Broadcasting Signals of cricket matches to Doordarshan Kendras and transmission towers for subsequent broadcasting on Doordarshan ‟sterrestrial networks, resulted in any violation of the copyrights of the appellants"BCCI and Nimbus then approached the division bench through a letters patent appeal. They "sought striking down of Section 3 of the Sports Act insofar as it relates to cricket test matches."They also prayed for "striking down the notification dated 3.09.2000 issued by Prasar Bharati Broadcasting Corporation under the CTN Act, interalia, mandating that DD1 and DD be carried compulsorily by cable operators. "The striking down of the order dated 29.05.2007 issued by the Government of India, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting was also sought."Notification dated 3.7.2007 is on cricket being of national importance. Putting it into two categories, the first being all one and T20 matches being played by the Indian Men Cricket Team and test matches as considered to be of high public interest by Central Government while the other one being semi-finals and finals of World Cup and ICC Championship trophies.Due to this notification, feed of such matches is to be shared with DD compulsorily.In another petition that was clubbed with the LPA, a PIL was filed, praying that "such test matches as are considered to be of high public interest by the Central Government" is the offending portion of the notification. The petitioner claimed, "All test matches being played by the Indian Men‟s Cricket Team with any other test match playing country should be mandatorily telecast live from the feed provided by the content holder. The petitioner has even challenged the discretion of the Central Government to specify as to which test matches areto be considered of high public interest."Senior Advocates Mr Sudhir Chandra, Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi appeared for ESPN, which was also added as a party. Mr. Chandra submitted, "Mandatory sharing of the live broadcasting signals was only for the purposes of enabling Prasar Bharati to re-transmit the said signals on Prasar Bharati‟s terrestrial networks and Prasar Bharati‟s DTH Networks and did not extend to cable operators."He also said, "ESPN / STAR do not have any objection, nor can they have, for...

Delhi High Court rules in favour of BCCI-Nimbus in Prasar Bharati case [Read the Judgment]

Gaurav Pathak

Tags