Star Sports India Private Ltd. v. Prasar Bharati and ors. - (Supreme Court) (27 May 2016)

SC: No distinction between event and broadcaster adverts

Media and Communication

Broadcaster sharing the ‘world feed’ of a sporting event of national importance with Prasar Bharati must provide the “best feed”, one free from commercial advertisements, even if the advertisements are those of the event organiser.

Under Section 3 of the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Act 2007, a television broadcasting organisation must share a live broadcast of a sporting event of national importance with Prasar Bharati without its own advertisements.

Dispute arose when Prasar Bharati raised issue with the inclusion of certain in-built advertising within the world feed - the common audio-video package of the live event provided by the event organiser to all broadcasters.

Counsel for Star Sports submitted that the broadcaster shared the world feed with Prasar Bharati without including its own advertisements. It was not obliged to remove any on-screen credits inserted by the event organiser. Moreover, the logos were those of event sponsors by agreement between the sponsor and the event organiser.

The court rejected the arguments opining instead that once Prasar Bharati too started to showcase the event, viewership numbers would be multiplied. As such, the private broadcaster would be in a position to charge more from advertisers for the increased circulation rates.

Relevant : Section 3 Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Act, 2007 Executive Engineer and Another v. Sri Seetaram Rice Mill MANU/SC/1334/2011 Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Govt. of India and Others v. Cricket Association of Bengal and Other MANU/SC/0246/1995

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