Delhi HC rejects Amazon plea alleging dilution of broadcast rights

The Delhi High Court on Friday rejected a petition by Amazon Seller Services Pvt Ltd against the alleged dilution of its exclusive media rights to broadcast the ongoing cricket series between India and New Zealand.

Dismissed, said Justice Yashwant Varma who was hearing Amazon's challenge to a TDSAT order which, the petitioner claimed, allowed all private cable and DTH operators to re-transmit the sports content shared by it with Prasar Bharati.

The detailed copy of the order is awaited.

The petition said, following a plea by a private DTH operator, the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) erringly expanded the scope of the contractual rights granted by the petitioner to Prasar Bharati with respect to broadcasting the cricket series on its channel DD Sports.

The plea asserted the rights granted by the petitioner to Prasar Bharati were restricted for retransmission only on Prasar Bharati's DTH platform namely DD Free Dish, and this limited transmission cannot be further extended to any third party.

It said the petitioner acquired exclusive media rights from New Zealand Cricket for the Indian territory to broadcast the international cricket matches organised by it.

However, a private DTH operator, without any legal basis, approached the TDSAT to direct Prasar Bharti to share the cricket matches licenced to it, the plea stated.

The petition said the TDSAT, on November 24, completely misapplied the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, which is an obligation on private cable operators to carry Doordarshan channels, and passed an order in favour of the private operator and significantly diluted its intellectual property rights.