There is nothing wrong in forging mechanisms whereby telecasts of high interest are made available to the largest possible number of viewers. But such an arrangement must be rational. The current ordinance is not. First, for

Dasmunshi to say that his ministry is acting in public interest is not enough. It did, recall, make a losing bid for the telecast rights. And its pleas in court for the recent one-day series against South Africa betray a definite commercial interest. Note, for one, its impatience with the court-mediated seven-minute delayed telecast from feed supplied by Nimbus, the holder of telecast rights for matches in India. Those seven minutes did not hurt the interests of non-cable homes, but they did give the private broadcaster an edge in cable homes, homes Doordarshan clearly wants to access to gain higher ad revenue — in total contravention of an existing contractual agreement, in this case between Nimbus and the BCCI.

Second, consider the implications such legislation would have for the BCCI’s ability to sell telecast rights in the future. If the national broadcaster is in any case getting ad-free footage, can BCCI command the actual market price? Revenue from telecast rights sustains international and domestic cricket. By the I&B ministry’s argument, watching sport is in public interest, never mind if it infringes upon the monetary support structure for sport.