Doordarshan to show India-Pakistan ODIs

The five ODIs to be played between India and Pakistan, starting from February 6 at Peshawar, will be available to millions of viewers on Doordarshan. This follows an agreement reached before the Supreme Court between Ten Sports, which has the exclusive telecast rights for the series, and Prasar Bharati, the state-run broadcaster.

A division bench comprising of Justices Ashok Bhan and Tarun Chatterjee today directed Prasar Bharati to deposit with the Supreme Court a sum of Rs.15 crore (US$3,398,278 approx ) by February 9, which Ten Sports shall receive as the full and final settlement for sharing an "uninterrupted feed" for the five ODIs.

According to the agreement, Prasar Bharati will not run any advertisements during the terrestrial transmission and will have to restrict the range of its satellite so that the signal does not spill over to the neighbouring countries.

KS Sarma, Prasar Bharati's CEO, said: "We will obey the order of the honourable Supreme Court and deposit Rs.15 crore. We will get a feed for all the five one-day internationals without running our own advertisements," he told PTI after emerging from the court.

The Supreme Court transferred a petition pending in the Bombay High Court and said henceforth all matters relating to the dispute shall be heard by a three-judge bench of the apex court. The petition filed by Taj Television Ltd, owner of Ten Sports, had sought a stay of the government guidelines which make it mandatory for sports channels to share feeds of sporting events of national importance with Prasar Bharati.