New Delhi: The Supreme Court reserved its verdict on an appeal by Prasar Bharati challenging an order of the Delhi High Court barring the public broadcaster Doordarshan (DD) to share signals of ICC World Cup with cable operators.
Responding to the Supreme Court on whether it could create a separate channel to show World Cup matches, Prasar Bharti said it would be unable to do so.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had sought the response of Prasar Bharati on whether it could create a separate channel for World Cup so that it is not shown on cable network freely. This came after private broadcasters and rights holders ESPN and STAR Sports argued that they were losing revenue for sharing feed free of cost.
On Tuesday, Doordarshan argued that it may not be possible to create a separate channel for just nine games. The judges wanted this in the form of an affidavit.
Last Tuesday, the Supreme Court had stayed a Delhi High Court order restraining Doordarshan from sharing the World Cup feed free with cable operators. Effectively, the India versus Pakistan match in Adelaide on February 15 was shown on the national network.
"This arrangement that DD showing free feed had been there for the last seven years. Let it continue," a Supreme Court bench comprising Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose said in an interim order.
