The Beijing Olympics saw Indian Broadcasters having a knock-out round over broadcasting issues. Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India), acquired broadcasting rights for its bouquet of channels Doordarshan (DD). The exclusive rights to the 2008 Olympics cost Prasar Bharati around $3 million.

In the meanwhile, private news channels began airing footage obtained from DD beyond the stipulated period allowed as per the fair-use doctrine. Following the medal-winning games, a number of private news channels had carried extensive footage from Doordarshan's exclusive coverage of the Olympic Games. This coverage increased when medal-winning games and athletes were concerned.

Copyright norms in India stipulate that news channels are allowed to show not more than 10 seconds of exclusive footage from a broadcaster on their channel at one go, subject to a maximum of 120 seconds (two minutes) of such footage in a 24-hour period.

Prasar Bharati, with respect to the Beijing Olympics charged about Rs5, 000 for every 10 seconds to air ''any exclusive footage from Doordarshan'', whether archival or live. Selling advertisement spots and footage seems to be Prasar Bharati’ modus operandi of recovering its costs towards broadcasting rights.

In the light of the violation by private news broadcasters, Prasar Bharati moved to Delhi High Court, praying for damages in the range of Rs. 5 Crore. The Delhi High Court in the meanwhile, answered Prasar Bharti’s prayer to restrain all private news channels from sharing Doordarshan's footage of the Beijing Olympics, unless they enter into a commercial agreement with Prasar Bharati and the Indian Olympics Association. If such instances of unauthorized use of footage continues, Doordarshan may soon have to adopt a practice whereby private news channels be charged on the basis of their usage.