Sports

The Supreme Court on Wednesday cleared uncertainty surrounding the live broadcasting of World Cup 2022 matches, ruling in favour of Nepali television service providers to charge an extra Rs500 from their subscribers. The quadrennial football extravaganza begins in Qatar on November 20.

The division bench of Justices Prakash Kumar Dhungana and Manoj Kumar Sharma quashed the short-term interim order of November 8 that prohibited cable operators and TV service providers from collecting the extra fees. 

Advocates Kishor Poudel and Anupam Bhattarai had filed a petition at the Supreme Court after Media Hub Pvt Ltd decided to take extra charges. The petitioners had made Media Hub – the holder of exclusive broadcasting rights of World Cup 2022 for Nepal – along with television service providers and the Ministry of Communication, the opposition in the case. 

The court had said Media Hub’s decision to collect additional fees under its “package view” model for the World Cup would cause irreparable loss to the Nepali customers.

Media Hub has acquired all the rights of terrestrial, satellite, DTH, only broadband and mobile and other electronic broadcasting in Nepal. The company has agreed with Himalaya Television to broadcast all 64 World Cup matches in the country.

There are an estimated two million Nepali television subscribers in Nepal.

Also Read: Nepali TV sellers set sights on World Cup to score sales goals