India bans Fashion TV for two months

The station that was the talking point among several pay television subscribers in Sri Lanka several months ago has been banned from all Indian pay television networks for a period of two months commencing April 1st.

Fashion TV which was available on all Sri Lankan pay television companies was removed during the course of last year when the authorities expressed their displeasure over this channel being made available in Sri Lanka.

Now India has made the move and the programme in question is "Midnight Hot" which is being telecast over Fashion TV. This ban comes after a ban on AXN India which was lifted on March 1st after they tendered an apology. Several channels have been informed by the Indian Ministry regarding the telecasting of objectionable content and even though the channels have not been named it is said that Zee Cafe is one of them. If these channels do not respond then they may face further action such as the ban imposed on Fashion TV.

However Fashion TV will continue to be available on FTA via satellite.

BBC to launch two more channels

BBC has being granted permission to launch another two channels in addition to their present BBC World channel. Out of the two new channels one will be focusing on entertainment and the other will be focusing on children.

Downlinking permission has been obtained by the Information & Broadcasting Ministry in India and these will be first two non news focused BBC channels in this region.

Technical formalities are expected to take a few months to complete and we expect the channels to be launched at the end of this year or early next year.

It is highly likely that Sri Lankan pay television companies will carry the channels on their networks once the launch takes place.

Maharaja Web Television

MTV/MBC the operators of television channels Channel One MTV, Sirasa TV and Shakthi TV have launched Web Television on a subscription basis. However there are many Sri Lankan television channels such as Swarnavahini and Rupavahini that are available on line for free. Previously many who wanted to watch News 1st over the internet had to pay a subscription to MTV/MBC in order to so and we believe the concept was not that popular since the other channels provide a similar service free of charge.

This comes on the back of a failed attempt in 2001 to make the channels Sirasa & Shakthi available to Sri Lankan viewers in UK over DTH pay television platform SKY Digital at a very expensive monthly subscription causing the project to be canceled in 2002.

It is baffling as to why a channel that is available FTA in Sri Lanka has to be made a subscription channel over the internet specially when channels like Swarnavahini and Rupavahini are available free for anyone on the internet.

It is commendable that they are going to give expatriates a chance to watch their channel however a free web cast would have been welcomed by the expatriate population than a subscription service.

MTV/MBC have on several occasions being quoted by media and have laughed at the idea of pay television in Sri Lanka and claiming that it will never become popular here and have also refused to allow their channels to be made available on DTH pay television platform Dialog TV.

New entrants to the pay television market

We have got some information regarding possible entrants to the DTH pay television market in Sri Lanka.

• It seems that Siyatha FM directors Sangeetha Weerarathna, her husband and brother in law have come into an agreement with Astro Malaysia to invest in their company and start a DTH operation in Sri Lanka. We are however reliably informed that Astro will be starting a joint venture with Sun TV India and launching DTH operations in India. We believe that if they are investing in India then it is likely that they may not want to set up a totally different company for DTH in Sri Lanka but they may setup operations in such a way as to make their connections available legally in Sri Lanka.
• It is said that Lakshman Hullugalle has been issued with Section 17 of TRC license to set up DTH operations in Sri Lanka. We believe that this license will be used to facilitate the operations of SATnet further.
• A company by the name of SKY TV & Radio seems to have acquired a license from the Media Ministry to carry out DTH operations in Sri Lanka.
• It is also rumoured that Srilakvahini have also been issued section 17 of TRC license and given the approval to start a DTH service.

We like to thank Shiran for submitting the above information to us but neither we nor him are able to verify the acuracy of the information given above. We would like those of you who have any further information on the above to verify their acuracy.

Yes FM Morning Show with Shaq & Mark is the most popular morning show

The Yes FM Morning show hosted by Shaq & Mark is the most popular morning show in Sri Lanka among the listeners of English radio stations. Attempts by the some other stations to copy the format and some others to try to do something different have not been so successful.

Yes FM has been struggling to find the right morning show combination but has finally got the combination right with these two. Not only is the show popular but it is continuing to increase in strength with the advent of the morning show community. The attractive feature of the show is it's interactive nature by allowing the listeners to interact with the presenters by way of phone and SMS.

This show has boosted the popularity of Yes FM among the listeners of English Music.

Our Opinion's

A spate of comments on our blog posts on Indian DTH providers has drawn some criticism from a certain group and some have labeled us, Dialog TV supporters with some even suggesting that this blog is moderated by Dialog TV.

At this moment we would like to say that we have nothing to do with Dialog TV. This blog is totally independant of any operator in Sri Lanka.

The reason our opinions are so strong against companies such as Dish TV/Tata SKY is that they are companies that concentrate solely on the Indian market and any content introduced by them will be focused on India. Even though DTH and pay television companies in Sri Lanka presently carry the Indian feed of many channels, it is our view that as the market grows in Sri Lanka then the content providers will take notice of Sri Lanka and cater to the local market. This will not happen if everyone in Sri Lanka purchases Indian pay television connections. The Indian pay television connections are presently rich in facilities and content because India has a huge market for these connections but in Sri Lanka the revolution has just started.

Sri Lankan operators will definitely take time to reach that level due to the low penetration of these connections and the fact is that Sri Lankans are used to watch television free, the concept of pay television has not caught on properly but now we see that there is an interest generated in this media.

Regardless of what anyone says a pay television connection for India if sold in Sri Lanka without content providers permission becomes an illegal connection and these types of connections only undercut the local operators thereby destroying the market. Maybe the local pay television companies are not fully Sri Lankan companies but there are many jobs being generated by them and they contribute to the economy too however the Indian ones do not contribute in anyway to Sri Lanka.

Some of our reports about events in other countries are made only because they will have an affect on Sri Lanka too. We do not give more priority to pay television over free to air and where ever things are happening we will report them. One thing that we have noticed is that the pay television industry is the most happening industry in Sri Lanka and nothing much is happening in the free to air industry. Pay television is going to be the future in Sri Lanka regardless of the operator and competition will be very intense.

Local free to air operators will have to brace themselves for this onslaught from pay television and will have to upgrade their broadcast technology to digital and improve content if they are to survive this.

In each of our blogs we have been very severe on the operators for their inability and on things that they have achieved we have congratulated them. Depending on the frequency of their achievements they will get the proper response that is why one can at times see that one operator has more congratulations that others. This makes some think that we lean towards that operator but this is not true since we are only giving out what they deserve and some do not respond in anyway to our views and keep silent and we have no option but to highlight their inability and be severe with them.

Once again we state that we have no connections with any operator of pay television or free to air television and will always be independant.

UAE halts illegal Dish TV, Tata SKY equipment imports - Sri Lanka may follow suit soon

According to a report in an UAE based news website DAIJIWORLD, people who bring Dish TV and Tata SKY equipment into the country are having their equipment confiscated. This is as a result of e-vision a digital pay television provider in UAE complaining to the authorities about the import of the illegal connections from India.

It seems that very soon Sri Lanka will also follow suit as the pay television industry grows and will get affected by the imports of illegal pay television connections from India.

Given below is the report that was published on the website.

UAE authorities confiscate DishTV and TataSky receivers

Dubai, Mar 11: It was until last week thousands of NRIs in the UAE carrying Dish TV or TATA Sky receivers walked freely through Dubai airport without any problems. The Indian Direct to Home systems [DTH] offers more than 100 Indian Satellite TV channels which can be viewed by paying mere Rs 300 per month. This has made viewing over 100 channels very cheap as compared to the rates of the official channel distributors in the UAE e-phela and e-vision.

Several subscribers to e-pehela and e-vision have unsubscribed or de-graded their subscription after the successful installation of Dish TVs in their homes.

The Dish TV cost less than Rs 3,000 and thereafter Rs 300 every month saves about 30 % to 80% of the fees payable to e-vision and e-pehela in UAE. Further several additional channels like Zee Kannada, ETV, Sony Set Max, Aaj Tak, IBN-CNN can be viewed without additional payment.

"I think, e-vision must have complained to the authorities to stop carrying Dish TV receivers to UAE. I bought one to enjoy the world cup cricket coverage as our building has still no e-vision connections. At the scanner machine in the airport, my receiver was confiscated. Several other passengers were also stopped at the scanner machine for carrying the equipment," said a Mangalorean who landed through Air India Express on Thursday.

"Many people were bringing the Dish TV systems successfully without any problem and so we too brought one. But we are not lucky enough to carry away with our TATA sky receiver. I think we have to upgrade our e-vision subscription to watch the world cup on Fox Sports,” said another woman to daijiworld.com. She too had arrived on the same day on Air India Express.

Detaining receivers at the airport is the only way to stop Dish TV service in UAE, as it may not be possible to block the transmission of channels to these receivers. Those who have already installed the receivers may find themselves lucky, but authorities say that, viewing TV channels through un-authorized Dish TV or TATA SKY is illegal!

How does TATA sky and Dishtv work in Middle East?

While the new direct-to-home service providers may go gaga, talking about its technological advances, consumers have already started taking advantage of loopholes in the satellite system. Check this out: Non resident Indians based out if Dubai, which follows the pay TV regime, are routing their entertainment signals via India.

Tata Sky and Dish TV, the Indian DTH systems, are being purchased in various parts of the country and carted off to Dubai and other parts of the United Arab Emirates where they are being lapped up by NRIs who were paying close to Rs 1,800 per month. Close to 10,000 Indians residing in the Gulf have subscribed to either the Tata Sky or Dish TV service in India, and have installed it in their homes in Dubai, getting a cheap deal.

"All you need is a dish on your terrace, which is already installed in several of these countries and you just align it in the direction of the satellite transmitting the signal with the set-top box (STB) purchased and activated in India. You just have to connect the dish there and you are in business," says a Dubai-based resident.

Close to 10% of the DTH connections sold in India, are being actively viewed in Dubai and other Middle East countries, estimate industry sources. "It makes sense to get the connection from India as it costs about Rs 300 which is payable in India. In fact, many of us have subscribed for the entire year package to avoid increase in rates later," says another resident using the Tata Sky service.

The footprint for Tata Sky (INSAT-4A) and Dish TV (NSS-6) is up to the Arabian Gulf. According to residents of the Gulf, the signal quality they receive is up to 24%, while the minimum quality required is 18%.

Tata Sky CEO Vikram Kaushik said: "Piracy is taking place across the region in all our neighbouring countries. However, the moment we notice that the boxes are not in the location they are meant to be, we disconnect them. In fact, we have been approached by distributors from the neighbouring countries to provide the Tata-Sky service, but since the laws do not allow it, we have abstained from doing so."

Dish TV business head Jawahar Goel added: "We are aware of the problem, But there is little that can be done. The only way we control it is to trace the absence of a box and disconnect the service."

While there may not be any official distributors, the neighbouring countries seem to have a lot of self-appointed distributors who can be contacted for installations as well as purchase of the box.

Dismissing the numbers as marginal, Kaushik said the piracy levels are too insignificant to become a matter of concern. However, the numbers are increasing, with the convenience of TV viewing spreading like wild fire. But are the DTH players really impacted? "Not as long as they continue to get their subscription payment. The actual victims are service providers in the region, who lose customers to this illegal alternative, said an industry expert.

Oscars on Art TV

The 2007 Oscars will be telecast on tuesday 13th March 2007 at 9pm according to a part of a trailer that we caught on Art TV last night, but we were unable to view the trailer properly. There was a scheduled repeat date too but we were unable to catch that information too.

We would appreciate your confirmation on the above date and time as well as information about the repeat time. If we are able to verify this information we will definitely update this post.

Update :
The Oscars will be repeated on Sunday 18th March at 12 noon

LTTE broadcasting illegally in Intelsat 12 satellite: Will be closed down soon – Intelsat Ltd.

New York, 10 March, (Asiantribune.com): Tamil Tigers are pirates and they are broadcasting illegally in the Intelsat 12 satellite without any proper authorization.

The Washington D.C. based Intelsat Ltd., the world’s largest commercial satellite communications services provider told “Asian Tribune” that that LTTE is not a customer of the Intelsat. “They are pirates.”

On 04 March, LTTE news websites reported that Voice of Tigers, the official radio broadcast of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), began satellite broadcast to South Asian countries from Vanni starting from that day.

Also it was reported S.P. Tamilselvan Head of the LTTE’s political Division participated in the ceremony and said, "We are holding the inauguration ceremony on the 69th birthday of late Anton Balasingham as a mark of respect for his contribution to the progress of Tamil media. I also wish to thank all the staff at VoT for making the station a voice of Tamils."

However “Asian Tribune” reported on 05 March, “Anyhow, Pro LTTE websites in their news report about the launching of the satellite broadcast carried a misleading statement stating that “The radio service will use similar frequencies used by the National Television of Tamileelam (NTT), using ‘Eurostar’ at 11.506 GHz symbol rate 2894, vertical polarization, the media unit.

“Asian Tribune” report further added “However, Intelsat 12 satellite link clearly shows that National Television of Tamileelam and as well as Pulikalin Kural is with the same frequencies and are hosted by them.”

The contention of the “Asian Tribune” was confirmed by Ms. Dianne VanBeber, Intelsat LTd Vice President in charge of Investor Relations and corporate communication, who told “Asian Tribune” that Sri Lanka’s terrorists’ outfit LTTE is presently pirating the Intelsat’s 12 bandwidth without the knowledge of the company.

“Intelsat has notified the original customer for the capacity that they are in violation of their contract, and Intelsat has informed them to cease transmissions,” Diam Beever said.

When asked to identify the original customer of the Intelsat, Dianne VanBeber refused to disclose the name of the service provider who gas accommodated the LTTE’s medias without the knowledge of the Intelsat Ltd.

When asked whether Intelsat was not aware of the fact that LTTE’s National Television of Tamileelam was using the Intelsat 12 satellite bandwidth since 2005.

Dianne VanBeber clarified that the Intelsat Ltd acquired PanAmSat only on July 3, 2006, and LTTE’s National Television of Tamil Eelam might have come to share quietly the Intelsat 12 satellite.

She said, “We are taking actions to cease their transmission soon. “

Furthermore Dianne VanBebersaid, “There are no Sri Lankan shareholders of Intelsat. Intelsat went private in January of 2005 and has had no Sri Lankan investment shares since that time.”

- Asian Tribune -

ICC World Cup 2007 Broadcast Schedule

The ICC World Cup 2007 will be broadcast live on Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation channels Rupavahini and Channel Eye. The pay television broadcaster will be Dialog TV.

The Opening Ceremony will be held on Monday 12th March 2007 @ 4:30AM.

To view the SLRC broadcast schedule please click on SLRC ICC - World 2007 Cup Broadcast Schedule.

Dialog SET Max broadcast Schedule can be downloaded at SET Max - ICC World Cup 2007 Broadcast Schedule

We hope that the other pay television channels are able to come to an agreement with Dialog TV in order to broadcast the World Cup live via SET Max. In addition we request SLRC not to have too many interruptions due to advertisements. We understand that advertisements are required to generate the funds for a broadcast of this nature but it should be done in a proper manner and should be properly timed.

Max TV's incomplete broadcasts

Last night the Max TV broadcast of WWE Smackdown was rudely stopped by Max at around 11:15PM. This is not the first time that this has happened and has happened several times before. If Max wants to be a successful station then they should learn to respect the viewer. They seem to be having the habit of stopping programmes as and when they choose.

We hope that the Max TV management will take steps to rectify the matter.

When Max TV was carrying out test transmissions they used to telecast Ten Sports most of the time but now is looks like we get Indian NDTV more than Ten Sports.

So Max has to decide whether it will be Ten Sports or NDTV for them and stick to one so that they can organize themselves.

Nimbus warns BCCI to encrypt DD Signals

Nimbus the authorized broadcaster of the ICC Cricket World Cup has warned the Indian Cricket Board referred to as the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) and pushed for encryption of DD Signals so that the signal cannot be accessed from neighboring countries. DD Signals are accessible from West Asia up to Singapore and if the signals are not encrypted before the commencement of the world cup it will result in Nimbus claiming compensation.

This warning was issued as DD failed to set encryption mandates for DD terrestrial signals.

Nimbus has appointed SLRC as the FTA broadcaster for the World Cup in Sri Lanka and SET Max as the regional broadcaster which in turn has appointed Dialog TV as the exclusive pay television channel for the ICC World Cup in Sri Lanka. The demand for encrypting DD Signals has been made so that the feed will be accessible inside India for use by regional DD stations and not by FTA receivers outside of India. The demands by Nimbus also state that DD Direct the FTA DTH service operated by DD will not have access to the live match feed.

Refer Link : Nimbus issues warning to BCCI as consensus eludes PB on encryption

Is Dish TV India violating Intelluctual Property rights in Sri Lanka?

Just last week another advertisement appeared in The Sunday Times Hit AD section advertising placed by a company called Telecave providing Dish Tv connections. They claim to be the authorized service agents for Dish TV in Sri Lanka who have been appointed by SATNet, who is actually the only dealer in Sri Lanka who is authorized by Dish TV of India.

The fact is that SATNet is allowed to only sell packages only with a much lower channel choice that actually provided by Dish TV. But Telecave which has been appointed by SATNet is selling the full package provided by Dish TV. Either SATNet or Telecave or Dish TV of India are lying big time about this whole issue. It is a fact that Dish TV does not have permission from all its content providers to distribute their content in Sri Lanka. So if they have authorised Telecave via SATNet to sell connections that contains the entire content of Dish TV then it means that Dish TV is violating Intelluctual Property Rights and should be stripped of the license to carry out a DTH service.

Sony Max have made Dialog TV the exclusive rights holder for the ICC World Cup 2007 but according to this advertisement the Dish TV package in Sri Lanka also carries the SET Max channel that will be telecasting the matches.

The connections are being sold with six months subscription free and this happens to be the exactly the same offer that is available in India. Telecave claims to be able to reconnect the existing disconnected illegal connections in Sri Lanka.

The legality of the connections provided by Telecave is very much questionable and people who are planning to purchase them are better off buying connections from LBN, Comet or Dialog TV.

This could be a case of Telecave doing this entire business without the knowledge of SATNet as well as Dish TV of India but certain comments made by our bloggers indicate that SATNet is fully aware of this operation and it is most likely that they are. It could also be a case of SATNet appointing Telecave and then selling illegal connections through the sales agent. Dish TV may not have any knowledge of this business but certainly a distributor of Dish TV in India will be involved. Another likely scenario is that Dish TV knows the entire story but is turning a blind eye and if this is the case we hope that action is taken against Dish TV by the Broadcasting Ministry of India and this may lead to a suspension of Dish TV services.

It looks likely that a court battle may be brewing in Sri Lanka and may involve Dialog TV taking legal action against Dish TV, SATNet and Telecave.

DD to telecast selected ICC World Cup matches

DD will be telecasting only selected matches of the ICC World Cup 2007 and not all. Some of the matches will be shown live and some others deferred by one hour.

As per this information even if any Sri Lankan pay television broadcaster was planning to use the DD feed to provide their customers with the live coverage but now it will not be possible since not all the matches are available on DD Sport. It will be great if the operators of pay television networks in Sri Lanka can come into an agreement with Dialog TV to share the feed of SET Max so that everyone will be able to catch the action live.

Given below is the detailed schedule prepared by DD for the matches that they will be telecasting. Please note that all matches after March 27th to April 21st will be part of the Super 8 stage and the matches given here are only the expected pairings for the Super 8 stage.

Day/Date	Teams	Timings
Tuesday 13/03/2007	West Indies V/s Pakistan at Jamaica (starts one hour late)	06.30 P.M.- 08.00 P.M. Fourth Umpire 08.00P.M. - 11.30 P.M. - 1st Session 11.30 P.M. - 12.00 P.M. - Fourth Umpire 12.00 P.M. - 03.30 A.M. - (13/14-03/07)
Saturday - 17/03/2007	India V/s Bangladesh at Trinidad & Tobago	05.30 P.M.- 07.00 P.M. - Fourth Umpire 07.00P.M. - 10.30 P.M. - 1st Session 10.30 P.M. - 11.00 P.M. - Fourth Umpire 11.00 P.M. - 02.30 A.M. - (17/18-03/07)
Monday 19/03/2007	India V/s Bermuda at Trinidad & Tobago	05.30 P.M.- 07.00 P.M. Fourth Umpire 07.00P.M. - 10.30 P.M. - 1st Session 10.30 P.M. - 11.00 P.M. - Fourth Umpire 11.00 P.M. - 02.30 A.M. - (19/20-03/07)
Friday 23/03/2007	India V/s Sri Lanka at Trinidad & Tobago	05.30 P.M.- 07.00 P.M. Fourth Umpire 07.00P.M. - 10.30 P.M. - 1st Session 10.30 P.M. - 11.00 P.M. - Fourth Umpire 11.00 P.M. - 02.30 A.M. - (23/24-03/07)
Saturday 24/03/2007	Australia V/s South Africa at St. Kitts & Nevis	05.30 P.M.- 07.00 P.M. Fourth Umpire 07.00P.M. - 10.30 P.M. - 1st Session 10.30 P.M. - 11.00 P.M. - Fourth Umpire 11.00 P.M. - 02.30 A.M. - (24/25-03/07)
Saturday 31/03/2007	India V/s Australia at Antigua & Barbuda	05.30 P.M.- 07.00 P.M. Fourth Umpire 07.00P.M. - 10.30 P.M. - 1st Session 10.30 P.M. - 11.00 P.M. - Fourth Umpire 11.00 P.M. - 02.30 A.M. - (31/03/07- 01/04/07)
Monday 02/04/2007	India V/s New Zealand at Antigua & Barbuda	05.30 P.M.- 07.00 P.M. Fourth Umpire 07.00P.M. - 10.30 P.M. - 1st Session 10.30 P.M. - 11.00 P.M. - Fourth Umpire 11.00 P.M. - 02.30 A.M. - (2/3-04/07 )
Saturday 07/04/2007	India V/s South Africa at Guyana	05.30 P.M.- 07.00 P.M. Fourth Umpire 07.00P.M. - 10.30 P.M. - 1st Session 10.30 P.M. - 11.00 P.M. - Fourth Umpire 11.00 P.M. - 02.30 A.M. - (7/8-04/07 )
Sunday 08/04/2007	Australia V/s England at Antigua & Barbuda	05.30 P.M.- 07.00 P.M. Fourth Umpire 07.00P.M. - 10.30 P.M. - 1st Session 10.30 P.M. - 11.00 P.M. - Fourth Umpire 11.00 P.M. - 02.30 A.M. - (8/9-04/07 )
Wednesday 11/04/2007	India V/s England at Barbados	05.30 P.M.- 07.00 P.M. Fourth Umpire 07.00P.M. - 10.30 P.M. - 1st Session 10.30 P.M. - 11.00 P.M. - Fourth Umpire 11.00 P.M. - 02.30 A.M. - (11/12-04/07 )
Friday 13/04/2007	Australia V/s Pakistan at Barbados	05.30 P.M.- 07.00 P.M. Fourth Umpire 07.00P.M. - 10.30 P.M. - 1st Session 10.30 P.M. - 11.00 P.M. - Fourth Umpire 11.00 P.M. - 02.30 A.M. - (13/14-04/07)
Sunday 15/04/2007	India V/s Pakistan at Barbados	05.30 P.M.- 07.00 P.M. Fourth Umpire 07.00P.M. - 10.30 P.M. - 1st Session 10.30 P.M. - 11.00 P.M. - Fourth Umpire 11.00 P.M. - 02.30 A.M. - (15/16-04/07 )
Thursday 19/04/2007	India V/s West Indies at Barbados	05.30 P.M.- 07.00 P.M. Fourth Umpire 07.00P.M. - 10.30 P.M. - 1st Session 10.30 P.M. - 11.00 P.M. - Fourth Umpire 11.00 P.M. - 02.30 A.M. - (19/20-04/07 )
Tuesday 24/04/2007	1st Semi Final - 2 X 3 at Jamaica (starts one hour late)	06.30 P.M.- 08.00 P.M. Fourth Umpire 08.00P.M. - 11.30 P.M. - 1st Session 11.30 P.M. - 12.00 P.M. - Fourth Umpire 12.00 P.M. - 03.30 A.M. - (24/25-04/07)
Wednesday 25/04/2007	2nd Semi Final - 1X4 at Saint Lucia	05.30 P.M.- 07.00 P.M. Fourth Umpire 07.00P.M. - 10.30 P.M. - 1st Session 10.30 P.M. - 11.00 P.M. - Fourth Umpire 11.00 P.M. - 02.30 A.M. - (25/26-04/07 )
Saturday 28/04/2007	Final at Barbados	05.30 P.M.- 07.00 P.M. Fourth Umpire 07.00P.M. - 10.30 P.M. - 1st Session 10.30 P.M. - 11.00 P.M. - Fourth Umpire 11.00 P.M. - 02.30 A.M. - (28/29-04/07 )

Source : IndianTelevision.com

Refer Link : DD to telecast Opening Tie, Semi-finals and final, and Indian matches

"Set max world cup exclusivity, is with Dialog TV.DD can only air in the Indian territory" says Mr. Ramesh - Sales Manager of Dialog TV

In an interview with us Sales Manager of Dialog TV says "Set max has the DTH and pay TV rights for world cup.Rupavahini has the terrestrial rights from Nimbus .Set max world cup exclusivity, is with Dialog TV.DD can only air in the Indian territory." further reinforcing their press release that says they are the exclusive broadcaster of the ICC World Cup in the pay television platform. Even though DD Sports has obtained rights it seems that local operators such as LBN and Comet Cable will not be able to broadcast the tournament using DD Sports signals.

Meanwhile in an interview with us LBN Managing Director Mr. Shirantha Herath to a question on whether the World Cup will be telecast on LBN says "Dialog has got exclusive satellite rights and we are in discussions with the broadcaster. If Dialog has paid a premium to stop other platforms and deny non dialog customers from watching the world cup we will not be able to broadcast the world cup on LBN. This is yet to be finalized.", but he has not ruled out the possibility of the World Cup being broadcast on LBN.

We are still awaiting a response from Comet Cable regarding the World Cup and their digitization plans.

For a full script of the interviews please select the following links,
Interview with Mr. Shirantha Herath - Managing Director of LBN
Interview with Mr. Ramesh Anthony - Sales Manager of Dialog TV