ICC bans news channels from World Cup final

The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Friday banned news channels from covering the high voltage World Cup final between India and Sri Lanka here on Saturday.

The ICC accused news channels for breaching the terms and conditions they had agreed to follow when they were awarded accreditation for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 in Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka.

Earlier, following a request from the Indian Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Ambika Soni, the ICC agreed to allow various Indian television channels to attend the India v Pakistan ICC Cricket World Cup semi-final in Mohali on Mar 30.

Soni had proposed a 24-hour ‘truce’ in a dispute created by Indian non-rights holders (NRH).

ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat had said: “Ms Soni had written to ICC President Sharad Pawar and asked for the television channels be allowed access into the ground at Mohali for this important game.

?At the same time she agreed to convene a meeting at the Ministry on 31 March 2011 to address the dispute which has been caused by repeated and serious breaches of the terms and conditions which these organisations had signed up to.?

“To ensure that there is no misunderstanding it is important for me to outline the facts. Firstly, the News Access Guidelines for Broadcasting the ICC Cricket World Cup were issued in January 2011 and all news broadcasters were reminded of these Guidelines in a letter from the ICC on 27 January,? said Lorgat.

“No objections to the guidelines were received and accreditations were issued to the NRH reporters and cameramen on condition that these guidelines were followed.

“Sadly there have been many breaches and despite requests for such activity to cease the NRH stations continued to break the rules,? he had said.

“It was only as a last resort that the ICC withdrew the accreditation of these companies when they refused to sign an undertaking that they would desist from breaching the guidelines. It was not something done without very good reason.

“It is also important to understand that the removal of the accreditation does not prevent these channels from reporting the ICC Cricket World Cup. It only prevents them from entering the stadium. Footage is provided to them from several agencies, including SNTV and Reuters, the ICC’s official news providers,? said Lorgat.

“I am grateful for the minister’s intervention in calling a meeting but I must repeat that we are committed to protecting the rights and investments of our broadcast partners as well as the exclusivity of our commercial partners.

?We will not allow that to be compromised and if the relevant members of the News Broadcasters’ Association are not willing to give the necessary undertakings we require, we will have no other option but to withdraw accreditation for the final in Mumbai,? Lorgat had said.