Sports broadcasting & the extent of mandatory sharing laws in India: A review of Union of India v. BCCI

In August 2017, the Supreme Court of India passed an important judgment in the case of Union of India v. Board of Control for Cricket in India1 on the issue of mandatory sharing of signals containing sports content. The case involved reconciling two distinct but harmoniously applicable laws. The Supreme Court confirmed that where private broadcasters are mandatorily required to share their signals with India’s public broadcaster, the retransmission must be limited to the public broadcaster’s network only and cannot be retransmitted on other private networks.

This article reviews the case, specifically looking at:

• How the sports broadcasting market works in India and how “mandatory sharing” legislation fits in;

• The facts of the case;

• The proceedings in the Delhi High Court;

  • Arguments of Star India

  • Arguments of BCCI

  • Arguments of India’s public broadcaster, Prasar Bharati

• The Appeal to the Supreme court.