Under attack from the media over alleged irregularities in the broadcast of the Commonwealth Games, senior officials of public broadcaster Prasar Bharti and Doordarshan came out on Monday to defend themselves.

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Addressing a joint press conference, Prasar Bharati CEO BS Lalli and Doordarshan director general Aruna Sharma asserted no impropriety had been committed at any stage.

They defended SIS Live as the official broadcaster, saying the selection was made with the approval of the competent authority — in this case, the minister for information and broadcasting.

“You cannot level allegations on the basis of assumptions and without verification of facts,” Sharma said in response to the charge that SIS Live was paid 80% of the contracted amount before the Games.

Lalli said the contracted amount of Rs246 crore was much less than the estimated value of Rs253 crore when changes in dollar exchange rate were factored in.  “We are aware that non-cricket sports coverage does not attract ads, so we had proposed to the government that the entire amount  be given to us as grant-in-aid. But we have earned revenues. Details will be shared once computation regarding shares of stakeholders is over,” he said.