Prasar Bharati to bid for sporting rights for its OTT platform

New Delhi: Prasar Bharati in its content sourcing policy for its upcoming OTT platform said that it will constitute a Sports Rights Negotiation Committee (SRNC) to negotiate and source the rights to sporting events such as Cricket, Hockey, Kabaddi, etc.

With this, the public broadcaster is expected to compete against private broadcasting entities in an attempt to bag the sporting rights from the organisers directly.

Through the Sports Act and Cable TV Network Regulation Act, Prasar Bharati gets one-time telecast rights for sports content of “national interest” from private broadcasters, meaning it cannot air the content again after the initial transmission. Typically, it’s not allowed to broadcast highlights or reuse footage from these events.

“Therefore, Prasar Bharati will endeavour to source the rights of the sports events such as Cricket, Hockey, Kabaddi etc. to retain the perpetual rights over the content,” said the state-owned broadcaster.

Sports rights are typically owned by the event organisers, who sell them exclusively through bidding or negotiation.

Prasar Bharati said it can either participate in the bidding process or negotiate directly with the organisers to secure broadcasting rights.

The Committee (SRNC) would recommend the range of rights fees along with the rights owners for sourcing of rights after approval of the Empowered Committee on Sports Rights (ECSR) of the Prasar Bharati board, the Content Sourcing Policy said.

The public broadcaster stated that the SRNC would constitute officers from the Sports, Finance and Sales divisions, post the approval of the CEO of Prasar Bharati. The chairperson of the committee would be the officer in charge of the Sports division.

The policy comes in the backdrop of apprehensions among private broadcasters that the government may tweak the Sports Act to accommodate Prasar Bharati’s OTT platform.

Earlier this month, BestMediaInfo had reported that any such move is unlikely.

Currently, the streaming rights for the International Cricket Council's (ICC's) tournaments rest with Disney Star through 2027, while Viacom18 has acquired the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) media rights for Rs 5,963 crore, valid until March 2028.

The policy said that guidelines defined in the policy shall be applicable when the public broadcaster sources sports content other than live sporting events under different sourcing modes like revenue sharing, sponsored or commissioning.