Rajya Sabha takes up Sports Broadcasting Signals bill

New Delhi, Mar 9 (UNI) The Rajya Sabha today took up for consideration the Sports Broadcasting Signals Bill, 2007, providing for mandatory sharing of broadcasting signals of sports of national importance with Prasar Bharati, the public broadcaster, on a free-to-air basis.

The Bill piloted by Information and Broadcasting Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi seeks to provide access to about 50 million terrestrial homes, Cable TV homes and innumerable Direct to Home subscribers through satellite without any extra payment for watching sports events of national importance.

The Bill replaces an ordinance which is in force and has similar provisions in countries like the United Kingdom and Australia where it is mandatory that the sports signals are given to the public broadcasters.

Mr Dasmunsi said the Bill was not for grabbing anybody's property but was only discharging an obligation to the country. The investors tend to benefit by offering the signals free of cost because of increased viewership in the country which accounted for 75 per cent of advertisement revenue for cricket.

He said it was All India Radio which had created intellectual property in the country and the credit should go to cricketing greats-turned-commentators like Vijay Hazare, Vijay Merchant, Lala Amarnath, K K Tarapore, Fateh Singh Rao Gaikwad. After this, Doordarshan was telecasting the matches live risking its own revenues.

He also explained the circumstances under which the government had to come out with an Ordinance making it compulsory for the content rights owners to part with signals to both radio and television and their satellite versions.

About the encryption and the misuse of signals outside India, he said the government would hold discussion with stakeholders and to ensure that the TV signals were not pirated. The technology available could not stop certain things happening, but the government would carefully consider the suggestions and adopt while framing rules. The bill will also help the public broadcaster to help promote other national events like tennis, kabaddi, hockey, archery, football and other sports which bring gold, silver and bronze medals in various international competitions, he added.

Supporting the Bill, Mr Ravi Shankar Prasad(BJP) said his party would extend total support in providing access to viewers in millions of homes including the DTH connections. Cricket, he said, was not an elitist game but a common sport even in villages where children play with their own forms of bats, ball and wickets.

He said as cricket organisers are becoming richer even their elections have become media events and very keenly contested.

Cricketers are getting good returns and even retired ones are getting handsome pensions.

He said care should be ensured that the pirating of signals outside India was not possible in a clandestine manner causing revenue losses to content rights owners.

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