Sony is keen to arrest the eyeballs all right – and not just across the country’s living rooms. The Indian Premier League (IPL) broadcaster is out to catch errant cable TV operators stealing its live match feed, as the tenth edition of the world’s richest cricket league gets underway.
Armed with a Delhi High Court order and assisted by court-appointed local commissioners, Sony Pictures Network India has formed teams to conduct raids at local cable operators and TV distributors to stop them from illegally beaming IPL matches for which advertising slots have been sold before even a ball was bowled.
Rajesh Kaul, president of distribution and sports business at Sony Pictures, said the company has received a John Doe order, or injunctions, passed by a court of law against anonymous entity/entities. “Yes, we have received the court order, and will be raiding cable operators found using our signal without valid contract,” Kaul said. Another person familiar with Sony’s plan said the company has formed different raiding teams for four zones of the country.
The court has ordered local commissioners to seize equipment used by the cable operators if they are engaged in unauthorised telecast of the live feed. Sony approached the Delhi High Court to stop dozens of distributors and cable operators throughout India from illegally broadcasting the popular tournament. Sony told the court that it “apprehends” 41 cable and distributors, and others unnamed, might “infringe upon” its prerogative by beaming the matches live without its permission.
The Delhi court in its order on March 30 said such cable operators and their agents and partners among others are “hereby restrained, until the next date of hearing, from broadcasting/rebroadcasting/transmitting/retransmitting or communicating to the public through any medium whatsoever including their subscribers, through cable TV network(s) or otherwise, the contents of coverage of Vivo IPL 2017 Cricket Tournament.”
Sony will broadcast the tenth edition of IPL played between April 5 and May 22 on its bouquet of channels — Six, Six HD, Sony ESPN, Sony ESPN HD and Set Max — in various languages, including English, Hindi, and Tamil.
ET had reported earlier this month that Sony Pictures has crossed its target of Rs 1,300 crore in advertising revenue from the tenth edition of the league.
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