Law to force channels share sports feed with DD on anvil

New Delhi, Jan 4 (UNI) The government is framing a law to make it mandatory for private broadcasters to share live feeds of major sports events with public broadcaster Prasar Bharati.

''A bill in this connection will be placed before the cabinet by the end of this month,'' Minister for Information and Broadcasting Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi told reporters here today.

Earlier attempts on the part of the Ministry to force the private channels to supply sports feed to the public broadcaster have dragged it to the court.

A rule introduced in November under uplinking guidelines to ensure feeds to the Prasar Bharati had been challenged by private braodcaster in the court and the judgement went in their favour.

The hitch is now sought to be removed through the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Bill.

Telecasts of international and national sports events is a major revenue earner for broadcasters.

UNI