The Indian Broadcasting & Digital Foundation (IBDF), amongst other things, has made a major push for review and simplification of the regulatory regime for sports broadcasting in the country, saying it would help in creating a viable sports eco-system in India.

“Satellite TV broadcast industry, like any other industry, involves innovating and making strategic and tactical business moves aimed at greater efficiency and enhancing consumer experience. However, in the broadcast sector it has long been observed that making even small and incremental changes can become regulatory and compliance nightmares for the stakeholders in the value chain,” IBDF has said in its submission to the TRAI consultation paper on Ease of Doing Broadcasting Business in India.

The apex body of TV channels has, amongst a slew of other measures, suggested that in order to support varying business needs and consumer experience, MIB should consider “issuance of short term/ temporary channel licenses, specifically to cater (to) the need of broadcasting multiple feeds of the same live event (such as a sporting event and entertainment events in various languages) and also to assure audiences regarding the availability of overlapping live events (including events of national importance).

Pointing out that in 2017 MIB had  introduced a processing fee per channel per day for temporary uplink of a live event of Rs 50,000 for regional channels and Rs 1,00,000 for national channels, the Foundation has said such a fee structure only goes to increase the cost of production for sports channels that provide services in various Indian languages.

“As sports channels usually consist of live sporting events and cater to various regions, the amount being paid by broadcasters towards temporary uplinking fees is mammoth, which runs into (Rs.) 4-5 crore per sporting event. The broadcasters pay charges of frequency allocation in WPC and monitoring changes by NOCC, through the teleport operators who in turn charge the broadcasters. In view of the same, it is suggested that the processing fee per channel per day for temporary uplink of a live event should be done away with,” the IBDF has submitted.

It has been suggest to TRAI that for sports channels, a “separate permission be issued”, by which such sports channels (having majority of content as live sports) can up-link from any location in India at any point of time “without the need to seek individual permissions for every single match and venue.

Such a move would bring sports channels at par with the “news

and current affairs channels” as both are engaged primarily in live broadcasts, it contended.

Highlighting the non-level playing field between sports and news channels on the issue of temporary uplink licence, IBDF has said when sports channels seek temporary uplink permission, it’s done with an aim to broadcast “events of national importance” as notified by the MIB. “…the sports channels should be allowed to go ‘live’ purely on the basis of airing sports content,” it added.

Enumerating some steps that could be taken to liberalise rules regarding sports broadcasting, IBDF stressed: “It is incumbent that the time consuming and cumbersome process for temporary uplinks of live sporting events by sports channels be changed….”

One of the suggestions made said the period of 15 days prescribed for filing an application for temporary uplinking by a non-news channel should be “reduced to a period of seven days as there are many sports events which do not have clarity in respect of the schedule 15 days prior to the event”.

Considering most broadcast rights for sporting events for the India region are bought by private sports broadcasters, the IBDF has also dwelt on the issue of mandatory sharing of feed of events of national importance with pubcaster Doordarshan.

“Without prejudice to broadcasters’ rights and contentions viz. mandatory sharing of sporting events, the MIB should look to revisit and revamp the tendering process for compulsory simulcast on DD for sporting events of national importance,” the IBDF submission stated, adding some quick simplification could be undertaken by policy-makers to smoothen the rough edges.