Irked by the Cabinet decision which asked television channels to share the cricket rights with Prasar Bharati, private sports broadcasting major ESPN Star Sports said the decision was "extremely disheartening and not fair", adding that it will affect the flow of proposed investments in India.
ESPN Star Sports managing director R C Venkateish said that the sports broadcasters were waiting for the final notification before deciding the next course of action, which can even be a legal challenge to the order.
"We will have to look at what is notified before moving further on the issue. Legal option, if at all required, will be the very, very last option," he told PTI.
Venkateish also lamented the fact that the government had decided to pass the order with retrospective effect, which means that rights bagged earlier than the notification of the order will also need to be shared.
"Nowhere in the world does a law exist like this... this is not encouraging for private sports broadcasters," he added.
In its order last week, the Cabinet had said that "for ensuring the widest availability in India of national or international sporting events of national importance to be held in India, no television channel shall carry a live broadcast of whole or part of any event... unless simultaneously Prasar Bharati has also been offered the terrestrial and DTH broadcasting rights."
The Cabinet had further ordered that this will apply not only to future events but also to the existing contracts, when cricket was involved.
"This is really a harsh view taken by the ministry, which is totally unnecessary," Venkateish said.
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