By IANS,
New Delhi : Three international news agencies have decided to boycott the multi-million dollar Indian Premier League, protesting against the restrictions on distribution of photographs to stand alone cricket websites.
Agence France-Presse (AFP), Associated Press and Reuters have Friday sent out advisories to their subscribers that they are not covering the 44-day Twenty20 competition.
“AFP will not, until further notice, offer any text, photo or graphics coverage of the inaugural Indian Premier League cricket, beginning Friday, due to restrictions imposed on international news agencies on the distribution of photographs,” the AFP advisory said.
Reuters also said they would not cover the event till the issue related to the restrictions on photographs is sorted out.
The IPL terms and conditions prohibit news agencies from selling photographs to cricket-specific websites.
Meanwhile IPL organisers said all contentious issues related to the coverage of the T20 tournament by the News and Current Affairs Broadcasters (NCAB), a group comprising various television channels, have been settled.
Chairman Lalit Modi said the issue with news broadcasters was resolved after a meeting with the representatives of the NCAB.
“The meeting saw all contentious issues concerning the guidelines on footage and accreditation being settled amicably to the satisfaction of all concerned,” IPL said in a release