Private channels to share live feeds of 5 sports with Prasar Bharati

New Delhi, Apr 20 (UNI) Private television channels will have to share live feeds of five major sports -- tennis, hockey, football, chess and snooker and billiards -- with Prasar Bharati, according to a release by the public service broadcaster here today.

The Prasar Bharati statement said the government has released a list of sport events and thus joined the league of Australia, United Kingdom, Italy and other members of the European Union ''...who follow a similar guideline to ensure that all sporting events of national importance are made available to public in a free-to-air mode, ideally through the public service broadcasting platform.'' The government communication covers five major sports -- tennis, hockey, football, chess, and snooker and billiards -- while cricket finds its place in the downlinking guidelines.

The statement quoted the government communication as saying ''Live feeds, without any advertisements of the sports channel/sports rights holders, of the sporting events of national importance held in India and abroad are required to be shared with Prasar Bharati with immediate effect by sports channels/sports management companies having television broadcasting right for broadcast on their terrestrial and DTH networks.'' The list of sports has been drawn by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry after consultations with the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Prasar Bharati and the sports channel and sports rights holders companies, the release added.

The list will be valid for five years and will be subject to review annually, it said.

Listed international sports events include Olympics -- summer and winter, Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and Afro-Asian Games.

The tennis events include all Davis Cup matches featuring Indi and the semifinals and final, all final matches of the Grand Slam tournaments and featuring Indian players in quarterfinals or above.

The hockey matches include all games involving India and semifinal and final of World Cup and Champions Trophy, Beighton Cup and Indira Gandhi Gold Cup.

Football events cover all matches featuring India, semifinals and final of World Cup, European Cup, Asia Cup, Subroto Cup, Santosh trophy,federation Cup, Durand Cup, National Women Championship, Junior National Championship.

The chess and billiard and snooker events include final of the World Championship and Chess Olympiad, besides all matches featuring an Indian player in quarterfinals and above.

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