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Prasar Bharati v. Board of Control for Cricket in India and Ors.

Special Leave Petition (Civil) · Neutral citation not assigned (Special Leave Petition (Civil) Nos. 4572-4573 of 2015)Decided 20 Feb 2015
Special Leave Petition (Civil) Nos. 4572-4573 of 2015
Justice Ranjan Gogoi · Justice Prafulla C. Pant

Background

This is an interim order, not a final judgment. The case concerns the sharing of ICC World Cup 2015 cricket broadcast signals with Prasar Bharati under the law on mandatory sharing of sports broadcasting signals. A High Court order dated 4 February 2015 had earlier been suspended by an interim order.

Decision Breakdown

This is an interim order, not a final judgment. The Court declined to consider the merits, saying that doing so could prejudice either side. It considered and rejected two suggestions from the respondents, an extra television channel and an on-screen scroll, only to decide whether the existing position should continue. It directed that the suspension of the High Court order continue until further orders and fixed the petitions for final hearing on a Tuesday in July 2015.

Lesson Learnt

There is no final ruling yet on who controls the sharing of the World Cup broadcast signal. An interim order that keeps a stay in place should not be read as deciding the underlying dispute.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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