NEW DELHI: Invoking the penal provisions of the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Ordinance, 2007, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry on Tuesday issued a show-cause notice to Nimbus Communications — which holds broadcast rights of the ongoing India-Sri Lanka cricket series — for not sharing the live feed of the first two one-day matches with the public broadcaster.

Nimbus Communications has been given time till Thursday to explain why action should not be taken against it.

On Wednesday afternoon — mid-way through the third match — the Ministry received a letter from Nimbus stating instructions had been issued to its engineers to provide Prasar Bharati with live feed for the day's match.

However, Prasar Bharati delayed the telecast of the remaining part of the match by seven minutes. Though there was no official word why it did so, sources said Prasar Bharati decided to play safe as the matter was in court. The next hearing is slated for Thursday.

The penal provisions in the ordinance include suspension/revocation of licence, permission or registration; and/or a fine of Rs. 1 crore. In the first two fixtures of the current series — which began after the ordinance was promulgated on February 2 — Nimbus provided Prasar Bharati the feed seven minutes late in keeping with the January 23 Delhi High Court order, passed during the India-West Indies series.

The ordinance — challenged by Nimbus — makes it mandatory for rights holders of sporting events to share advertisement-free, live broadcast signals with all Prasar Bharati platforms on a revenue-sharing basis.

The Ministry has also pulled up Neo Sports — channel run by Nimbus — and Star Plus for airing an advertisement with the tag line, `It is tough to be a West Indian in India,' to promote the sports channel.

The Advertising Code in the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995, has been invoked and the two channels have been asked to respond by February 19.

As per the code, no advertisement deriding any race, caste, colour, creed and nationality can be shown.

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