Zee loses DTH rights too

Drawing the battlelines on the cricket telecast row, Prasar Bharati has asked Dish TV, the direct-to-home broadcast venture of Zee Telefilms, not to show the Doordarshan 1 and the DD Sports channels when the India-Australia cricket series is underway.

"We have informed Zee of this decision, both verbally and through an official letter, and will be blocking Doordarshan 1 signals for Dish TV," senior Prasar Bharati officials said adding that this was being done to protect the commercial interests of the state-owned broadcaster.

The four-Test series begins in Bangalore on Wednesday. The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to intervene in the cricket board's decision to give telecast rights to Prasar Bharati and SET Satellite (Singapore) Pvt Ltd for the Australia and South Africa Tests.

Reacting to the missive, Jawahar Goel, additional vice-chairman, Zee Telefilms and head of Dish TV, said, "The

move by Prasar Bharati is illegal. Our 150,000 subscribers should be compensated. Either BCCI or ESPN-Star Sports will have to indemnify our subscribers."

Goel also pointed out that the move was against the "must provide" recommendation of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, which regulates the broadcasting sector in the country.

Zee Telefilms is likely to contest the matter in the courts, though a Dish TV team will first negotiate with Prasar Bharati to sort out the issue.

Prasar Bharati is on course to earn as much as Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) from the sale of advertisement spots for the India-Australia test series.

The main sponsors of the series will be TVS and Indian Oil, who will be paying Rs 6.5 crore (Rs 65 million) each for sponsorship.

Associate sponsors for the series are Pepsi, Onida and Hutch. The companies are paying Rs 4 crore (Rs 40 million) for the associate sponsorship.