The Lok Sabha today approved the Sports Broadcasting Signals Bill that would make it mandatory for private broadcasters to share their signals of sport events of national importance with Prasar Bharati.

The Bill that was tabled by Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi seeks to replace the Ordinance introduced by the Government in February this year after Nimbus, that has bought the telecast rights from BCCI, refused to share a live feed of the India-West Indies series.

Defending the Bill, the minister said this was “not a cricket-specific Bill” but concerned all sports. However, as the Bill became important on account of cricket, the minister said the Government had “brought this legislation in public interest to show live cricket matches to all viewers across the country.” Dasmunsi said with as much as 70 per cent of revenue in cricket being generated by India, viewers in India could not be deprived of watching matches.

He also said by getting private broadcasters to share their feed with Prasar Bharati, the private companies would tend to gain as they would get more money for commercial ads as the viewership of the sport event would increase. Replying to a general criticism that the private companies that have bought rights for exclusive broadcast would lose out by sharing the feed, the minister gave an example that with a 60 million viewership, the rate would have been $100, but with a viewership of 110 million, this rate could be $150.

The Bill that is called the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Bill, 2007 allows the Government to set aside a percentage of the revenue received by Prasar Bharati from cricket matches to be utilised for telecasting other sport events.

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