Broadcasting Law
The Government’s monopoly on broadcast rights must go, argues Madhavi Divan in her article, The Telecast Struggle: A Sorry Spectacle in the June 14, 2004 issue of Supreme Court Cases.
Divan takes the view that government monopolies in matters of telecast — whether news or sports — are inconsistent with and contrary to the fundamental right of speech.
Analysing the case-law on the subject, particularly the Hero Cup decision of the Supreme Court, Divan argues that if the citizen’s right to receive information and entertainment through broadcast media is truly paramount, then it is incongruous to permit the continuance of monopolies, even if this license is couched “in the public interest”. The Supreme Court should not, the article concludes, be called upon to interfere in squabbles between telecasters. These disputes, founded in contract, only operate to the detriment of the citizen.