Where8217;s the cricket gone?

Twenty million households in India are the lucky ones. They're the ones who will enjoy the chance to see India lose or win the first test...

Twenty million households in India are the lucky ones. They8217;re the ones who will enjoy the chance to see India lose or win the first test match in Chennai on ESPN. The other 40-50 million non-cable TV households won8217;t. They don8217;t count. For them, Doordarshan has a special treat: at precisely 11.32 pm, when most of the people in those households are fast asleep, it will telecast one-hour of cricket highlights.

When the majority of people living in a country they call their own cannot watch a cricket match being played in the country they call their own, involving a team they call their own, there is something very wrong. So what8217;s happening here? Why is Doordarshan not telecasting the Indo-Pak test series?

No, this has nothing to do with Bal Thackeray but everything to do with the telecast rights. The Board of Cricket Control of India BCCI had sold broadcast rights to all cricket matches played in India for 5 years to ESPN. That agreement continues till March 1999. So DD can8217;t show any of the test matches.

Doordarshan officials say that they will be in the bidding for the next contract. They had better have better luck this time otherwise, most Indians won8217;t be seeing much cricket in the future and DD will lose a lot of commercial revenue something it can ill afford to do. But then again, don8217;t bet on it: 8220;It is the general policy of Doordarshan not to telecast, live, test matches because they take up five days and we have other programmes,8221; said a DD official, 8220;test match coverage is left to AIR.8221;

That brings us to the late night highlights. Couldn8217;t DD as a public service, which is its duty any way, have scheduled every day8217;s highlights at an earlier time, when viewers, especially younger children, would be awake? 8220;We have mega serials on at prime time which continue till 11 pm, sometimes 11.30pm,8221; continues the official, 8220;we cannot disturb those for so many days.8221; On three nights, the highlights could have been run earlier, but DD thought that it was better to stick to one time so that there was no confusion.

Then, why not show the highlights on DD2? 8220;Because then only a limited number of viewers can see it.8221; But at least more than the number who are being able to see it just now? 8220;No,8221; insists the official, 8220;that is not possible.8221; Well, can8217;t the highlights, be shown on DD2 prime time and then repeated later on DD1? That way, DD gets best of both worlds.

Unfortunately, this is not possible either. There cannot be a repeat telecast. 8220;As per our agreement with ESPN, we are only permitted to telecast the highlights once.8221; Oh dear. According to the DD official, the late night telecast of the highlights is not merely the fault of mega serials earning mega bucks. It8217;s also ESPN8217;s fault: 8220;they have stipulated that no highlights are to be shown before 11.pm because they are showing highlights/reruns of the match themselves till then.8221; But why did Doordarshan agree to such a stipulation? Because otherwise, it would not have got the highlights at all.

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But there is something to perhaps to cheer about: negotiations are on between DD and ESPN for the one-day matches. Keep your stumps, sorry fingers crossed.