Nimbus to face Govt action

The decision follows violation of court orders by Nimbus during a India-SL ODI, reports Chetan Chauhan.

Updated on: Feb 9, 2007, 22:06:00 IST

None | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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The government is all set to initiate action against Nimbus for violating the recently notified ordinance during a washed out cricket match between India and Sri Lanka on Kolkata on Tuesday.

Nimbus provided seven minute delayed feed to Doordarshan for the match, which according to Prasar Bharati is in violation of the recently notified ordinance. The channel can be banned and may have to pay a fine of Rs one crore for the violation.

An I&B ministry official said action will be taken against Nimbus as per the clauses of the ordinance. "We will soon issue a showcause notice. But before that, we want to wait for court’s verdict on Nimbus-DD case," he told Hindustan Times.

Prasar Bharati had on Thursday lodged a complaint with the ministry against Nimbus saying its channel, Neo Sports, had violated the ordinance. Earlier, ministry officials have threatened action against Nimbus, if ‘live superior quality feed’ was not shared with DD.

Nimbus, on its part, stuck to its earlier stand that they will abide by the court’s verdict. Harish Thiwani, Nimbus chairperson, said question of taking action does not arise as they are following the court orders. "Whether it is an ordinance or the guidelines the final word is of the court of law. We will abide by the court’s verdict," he said.

Nimbus’ objection is against the stipulation in the ordinance that it will have to share live feed with Prasar Bharati even for cable homes and on DD’s DTH service.

In a bid to resolve the issue, the four-member BCCI committee met I&B ministry officials but no breakthrough was reached. The negotiations between Nimbus and Prasar Bharati officials have also failed. In most likelihood, the Sunday’s match will be available with seven-minute delay on DD.

Email Chetan Chauhan: chetan @hindustantimes.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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