An unsporting proposal

Amending the sports broadcasting law will be unfair

The government’s recent proposal to amend The Sports Broadcasting Signals Act, 2007, to allow state-run Prasar Bharati to broadcast sporting fixtures deemed to be of national significance on private cable and direct-to-home (DTH) platforms betrays a lack of understanding of the underlying business model. The 2007 legislation, which replaced an Ordinance, made it mandatory for private TV and radio broadcasters to share with the public broadcaster live feeds of sports events deemed “sporting events of national importance”. Private broadcasters, principally in television where the money is to be made, argued against this as they pay billions of rupees to bid