Deal on Commonwealth Games telecast soon

The government on Friday denied that there were any "slippages" in finalising the contract with British company SIS Live which will broadcast Commonwealth Games and said a formal announcement on the deal with the company would be made soon.

I&B ministry sources said DG Doordarshan Aruna Sharma had assured the ministry's oversight committee (formed for supervising broadcast related work for Commonwealth Games) that all pending issues had been sorted out with SIS and the contract would soon be signed.

"The oversight committee met two days back and DG (Doordarshan) assured that the contract has more or less been finalised and barring some minor issues, it would be soon signed and sealed. We have already sought the written opinion of the solicitor general and the moment the contract is finalised, there would be a formal announcement," the source said.

SIS Live had been finalised from among several bidders by Prasar Bharati (which is the host broadcaster of Commonwealth Games) in October last year. However, the formalities regarding preparing a contract has been held up for several months. The ministry has referred to the obstacles as "minor issues" but matters had come to such a head that the ministry had to take the solicitor general's view.

Ministry sources, however, dismissed concerns over the delay in preparations for Commonwealth Games saying that work was going on as per schedule and there were no slippages. "Only some minor issues are to be addressed, which have been taken care of," sources said.