Law on sports feed not generous, complains Prasar Bharati

Asked by the government to explain the gradual decline in its revenues for the past four years, Prasar Bharati, the state broadcaster, has actually blamed the Sports Broadcasting Act, which compels private broadcasters with rights to telecast an event to share the feed with the state body.

For, the Act allows Doordarshan access to all important sporting events (mostly cricket matches) but with a rider that the advertising revenue earned on the shared feed will be split with the private broadcaster, the original rights holder, in a 75:25 ratio, with the lower percentage for Doordarshan. Which is well below what Doordarshan could get away with earlier.

Prasar Bharati’s net revenue, from Doordarshan and All India Radio, has witnessed a gradual decline since 2005-06. It stood at Rs 946 crore in 2008-09, the lowest in the past four years. Its net revenue was around Rs 1,000 crore in 2005-06. In 2007-08 the net revenue of Prasar Bharati stood at Rs 958 crore.

The revenue earned from sports telecast on Doordarshan has come down to less than 6 per cent of its overall revenue in 2008-09 compared to nearly 40 per cent four years earlier, says a top government source.

Meanwhile, Doordarshan has not shown any significant revenue growth in non-cricket earnings, thereby contributing to an overall decline in the financial revenue of Prasar Bharati since 2005-06, the source said.

The Sports Broadcasting Act, a government diktat that came into effect in 2007, makes it mandatory for private sports channels to share the telecast of sporting events of national importance with Doordarshan. It was brought to enable Doordarshan an access to all important sporting events, mostly cricket matches, the rights of which were with the private sports broadcasters.

Doordarshan earned only around Rs 44 crore in 2007-08 from cricket telecast of seven series involving India, while private sports broadcasters together earned around Rs 136 crore. In 2008-09, Doordarshan’s earning from cricket telecast is expected to be lower than the 2007-08 earnings, said a source.