The India Vs South Africa Test series will not be shown on free-to-air state-owned channel Doordarshan after the government ruled that the series was not of national importance and subsequently allowed private rights holder Neo Sports to show the matches exclusively.

The series began on March 26 in Chennai and unlike World Cup games and Test series against Pakistan or other high-interest clashes, millions will now be excluded from viewing the footage.

The Ministry for Information & Broadcasting  made it mandatory in 2007 for matches that create high public interest to be shared with DD, despite legal objections from several private broadcasting companies. Clearly, Graeme Smith’s team are not exciting enough to bring this clause into action.

Economic Times quoted a Neo Sports spokesperson as saying: “Our understanding is that this is due to the fact that DD has many other broadcast obligations and carrying five days of Test Match and multiple Tests in each series would cause very significant disruptions of DD’s regular programming and its obligations to many segments of the audience.

“Secondly, Test matches do not attract the same degree of public interest as ODIs and Twenty20 matches.”