Live broadcasting of cricket in India & Pakistan: right to information, commercialization & competition issues

ABSTRACT The liberalization of the electronic media in sub-continent brought new choices for the viewers, but also highlighted the complex interplay of rights of various actors when it came to the live broadcasting of cricket. There is “right to information” in viewing live transmission of championship matches, with a corresponding service obligation on the national TV to broadcast such matches. This public interest in watching live transmissions, which are carried over air waves –a public property– comes in conflict with auctioning broadcasting rights exclusively to a highest bidder. In India, the right of the viewers is protected through the Sports Act of 2007, which traces its origin in a series of superior courts’ judgments spanning over 22 years from 1995 to 2017. Pakistan is lagging behind in definitively protecting the right of viewing sports events, and through Indian experience, could avoid the difficult path of formulating public policy ex post facto.