Threatening to go to Court, Nimbus has refused to share the telecast of the forthcoming India-West Indies cricket series with Prasar Bharati, including on its DTH, because of "rigid conditions" put up by the public broadcaster.
"We refuse to accept the conditions put up by Prasar Bharati and if these are not sorted out, we will not share the feed with them," Nimbus Chief Harish Thawani said from Mumbai.
Thawani said Prasar Bharati's insistence that they will not encrypt the cricket match signals on its Doordarshan channel, which also goes to cable TV homes, were making things tough for negotiating a deal.
"How can they show the matches on the satellite network. If they want the feed, they have to encrypt the feed to cable houses, though people receiving through terrestrial network can receive the channels," Thawani said.
He said in case encryption was not possible at such short notice, as the series begins tomorrow, Nimbus was still ready to provide the feed, but it should be telecast after a 15-minute gap to the telecast on the sports channel on Nimbus.
"It can be a deferred live for DD viewers. But, we are not ready to share the live feed with them. One should not forget that we have spent millions of dollars to bag the rights," he said.
Thawani added there was no law to force them to share the feed with Prasar Bharati if the conditions put up were unacceptable to the rights holders.
"We are ready to go to court, if coerced," he said.
Asked if Nimbus was ready to provide signals on Prasar Bharati's free-to-air DTH network, DD DirectPlus, he said it was not possible.
"How can we provide the feed on their DTH network. If we do that, what happens to those overseas broadcasters to whom we have sold the rights. Anyone in their country can access DD's free-to-air DTH platform and get to see the matches," he said.
"It will be nothing short of international piracy," he said.
Just as Nimbus adopts a tough stand, sources say Prasar Bharati is no less aggressive on the matter. Citing government regulations, it is firm on its demand for a live feed of the matches and has no plans to encrypt them.
Apart from this, it is demanding that the signals be also shared on its DTH platform.
India and West Indies will play four one-day matches during January 21-31 series. The series will be followed by Sri Lanka's tour of India in February.
