MIB widens scope of Sports Act
As per a recent notification, all cricket Test matches are now under the Sports Act’s ambit
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has widened the scope of the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Act, 2007, by notifying a fresh list of sporting events of national importance that have to be shared by private sports broadcasters with the public broadcaster Prasar Bharati.
As per the notification dated 9th May 2022, the sports broadcasters will now have to share feeds of all Olympics games. As per the earlier notification dated 1st March 2021, the sports broadcasters had to share the feeds of the Summer Olympics, Special Olympics, and Paralympics.
With regards to cricket, the MIB has brought all official One-Day, Twenty-20 and Test matches played by the Indian Men’s and Women’s Cricket Team and all International Cricket Council Test matches featuring India under the ambit of the Sports Act.
Further, the rights owners will now have to share all semi-finals and finals of the International Cricket Council World Test Championship; semi-finals and finals of the International Cricket Council Men’s and Women’s Asia Cup (Twenty20 and One-Day International); and India-playing matches, semi-finals and finals of Under-19 World Cup.
As per the previous notification, all official One-Day and Twenty-20 matches played by the Indian Men’s Cricket Team and such Test matches that were considered to be of high public interest by the Central Government apart from the Semi-finals and finals of the Men’s World Cup and International Cricket Council Championship Trophy were covered under the Sports Act.
In Hockey, the MIB has brought Hockey Men’s Junior Men World Cup (if it is hosted in India) under the mandatory sharing act. Previously, the rights owner had to share a) World Cup – All matches featuring India and semi-finals and finals; b) Champions Trophy – All matches featuring India and finals; and Indira Gandhi Gold Cup for Women-Semi-finals and finals with the pubcaster.
As per the new notification, footballing events like Asian Women’s Football Cup and Under-17 Federation Internationale de Football Association Women’s World Cup (if they are happening in India) have also come under the ambit of the Sports Act which also includes a) World Cup – Opening match, semi-finals, and finals; b) Asia Cup – All matches featuring India and semi-finals and finals; and c) Santosh Trophy – semi-finals and finals.
In the Other Events category, the government has notified (a) International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup Event; (b) Commonwealth Shooting Championship; (c) Commonwealth Archery Championship; and (d) International events organized by National Sports Federations recognized by the Government of India as events of national importance if they are held in India.
