Delhi HC Rejects Amazon’s Plea Against Curtailment Of Broadcast Rights

The Delhi High Court has rejected a plea filed by Amazon Seller Services that sought to curtail the re-transmission of the ongoing cricket series between India and New Zealand by private cable and DTH operators through DD Sports.

Justice Yashwant Varma, who was hearing Amazon’s contention, dismissed the plea. A detailed order is awaited.

Challenging the order of the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT), Amazon had alleged that broadcasting of the cricket match by private players through Prasar Bharti effectively diluted its exclusive media rights to air the match.

Amazon has acquired exclusive media rights for the international matches organised by the New Zealand Cricket Board till April 2026. The matches are being telecast on Amazon Prime Video.

In its plea, Amazon said that a DTH operator, without any legal basis, approached the TDSAT to direct Prasar Bharti to share the cricket matches licenced to the streaming major. 

Amazon, in its plea, claimed that the TDSAT expanded the scope of the contractual rights granted by the streaming platform to Prasar Bharati with regard to the broadcast rights. In its contention, Amazon claimed that the rights were only granted for retransmission on Prasar Bharati’s DTH platform DD Free Dish and could not be further extended to any third party.

In its order, TDSAT had directed Prasar Bharti to supply DD Sports channel in an unencrypted mode which allowed the matches to be seen on both DD Sports and other DTH platforms as well.

The move is not expected to augur well for Amazon Prime Video. While the platform likely acquired the exclusive media rights to lure in more cricket fans, it appears to have failed in its strategy. With the matches freely available on third-party DTH operators, the move take away the exclusive aspect of the matches and could be viewed anywhere. 

This is not Amazon’s first tryst with acquiring media rights for a cricketing event. Earlier this year, it unsuccessfully tried to bid for IPL rights but eventually pulled out later. 

However, Disney Star eventually emerged as the winner and picked up the rights to broadcast IPL in the Indian subcontinent for 2023-2027 period for INR 23,575 Cr. However, digital rights for the IPL were won by Reliance-owned Viacom18 for a cumulative bid of INR 20,500 Cr.

The overall sports viewership in India stood at 722 Mn in the first nine months of 2022 and is estimated to surpass the pre-pandemic 2019 figure of 776 Mn by the end of the year. Of this, cricket continues to be the biggest sporting event in the country, attracting maximum eyeballs and the most revenue. 

While TV viewing has been the preferred mode for some time, the recent past has seen the emergence of streaming platforms as an alternative to watching sporting events, especially IPL and other cricket tournaments. 

A recent report estimated that overall digital sports revenue stood at INR 1,540 Cr in FY21, which is expected to surge to INR 4,360 Cr by the financial year 2025-26.