Law planned to make telecast sharing compulsory

The Indian government is considering passing legislation to force television right-holders for international cricket in India to share feed with Doordarshan, the state-run channel. Meanwhile, the matter has moved to the courtrooms, with Nimbus moving Delhi High Court on the issue - the matter will be heard on Tuesday - and Prasar Bharati filing caveats in the Supreme Court, the Delhi High Court and the Bombay High Court seeking to be made a party in any petition on the telecast row.

"They [Nimbus] have a very unpatriotic attitude," Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Minister, told The Times of India. "Since they do not want to share feed, I will bring in a legislation in the next cabinet [meeting]," he said.

The government was considering hurrying through an ordinance, which takes 10 to 15 days in normal circumstances, to ensure the telecast of India's ongoing one-day series with West Indies on Doordarshan, the newspaper reported. It also quoted an I&B ministry official as saying that a channel could be pulled off air if it did not comply with guidelines.

Cricket viewers in many parts of the country missed out on India's match against West Indies at Nagpur as cable operators and the distributors failed to reach to an agreement on costs.