Parliament passes Sports Broadcasting Bill

New Delhi, Mar 9 (UNI) Parliament today passed the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Bill, 2007 that seeks to make it mandatory for private TV channels to share their live feed of sporting events of national importance with public broadcaster Prasar Bharati.

The legislation replaces the ordinance issued recently after a private channel refused to share its live feed of cricket matches with the Doordarshan and went to the court, questioning the government's downlinking and uplinking policy guidelines.

The Bill, which was passed by the Lok Sabha yesterday, was today cleared by the Rajya Sabha too by a voice vote.

Replying to the debate on the Bill, Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi said the government would soon bring in a comprehensive legistation on broadcasting services in Parliament.

Mr Dasmunsi said the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Bill was not cricket-specific but would be applicable to other games too.

The coverage of national events would be decided by the Sports Ministry, Prasar Bharati and the apex bodies of the disciplines concerned.

The bill was in public interest as it would enable those who cannot afford cable or dish TV to watch the events of national importance too.

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