Friday, February 02, 2007

Of National Importance and some such...

Doordarshan will no longer be forced to straggle by seven minutes in beaming major cricketing events. The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved a move to introduce an ordinance that would make it mandatory for private broadcasters to share the telecast of sports events with Prasar Bharati. The sharing norms are meant for sporting events of ‘national importance’,

So far so good.. Since the government wants all us common folk to watch sports events of "national importance", I am all for this ordinance.

The finals of the Ranji Trophy, India's premier domestic cricketing tournament, are underway at the Wankhede stadium. Surely no sporting event is of greater "national importance" than this, or so I thought.

So, I was over at the DoorDarshan website to check if this sporting event of "national importance" was being carried on any of DD's channels.

DD Sports - nothing
DD National - nothing
DD India - nothing

So there...So much for sporting events of "national importance".

Here are some more opinions on the same issue by Bong'oPondit, Jagadish,Nitin Pai, Gaurav, Yossarin, Sandeep and Harsha Bhogle

Update - Devangshu Datta here

1 comment:

shakester said...

excellent point.
opportunism, theft, call it what you will.