'Cable op must stop from illegal showing of cricket'

New Delhi, Nov 25: The Delhi High Court has restrained 66 cable operators in the country from unathourised telecast of the ongoing India-South Africa Cricket series, the exclusive rights of the ESPN-STAR Sports(ESS).

The High Court said any cable operator showing the cricket matches without authorisation would be held guilty of contempt of court and liable for prosecution.

Filing a suit seeking permanent injunction against 66 cable operators across the country for unauthorised telecast of the series, the ESPN-STAR had contended that the channel had exclusive rights to broadcast the feeds of the matches in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

The High Court also permitted the Sports Channel to take action against the cable operators who were found to be utilising the feed of ESPN and STAR Sport without license.

The 66 cable operators were receiving the signals of the DTH Operators and then routing them unauthorisedly through their cable network to the subscribers.

The operators restrained from the unauthorised telecast are from Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkand, Bihar, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Assam, Karnataka, Kerala, Chattisgarh, West Bengal, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab.

UNI