Cricket-Indian board backs Cricket Australia over rights stance

NEW DELHI, Nov 12 (Reuters) - The Indian cricket board backs Cricket Australia (CA) over a picture rights dispute that has prompted international news agencies to boycott coverage of matches in Australia, a senior official said on Monday.

Indian board secretary Niranjan Shah said the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) could adopt the same stance as CA for future domestic test series.

Reuters, Associated Press and Agence France-Presse boycotted last week's first test between Australia and Sri Lanka in Brisbane after CA demanded payment for the right to distribute photographs from the event.

CA argued it owns the right to exploit photographs taken at its games and has asked the agencies to pay to license photos for editorial use.

The agencies say that the test matches are news events and they will not pay for access to news.

Australian politicians, trade union leaders and media groups have criticised CA's demand while International Cricket Council (ICC) chief executive Malcolm Speed said he hoped the dispute would be resolved amicably.

WORLD RECORD

The Sri Lankan board have written to their Australian counterparts over concerns the dispute will reduce coverage should spinner Muttiah Muralitharan break the world test wickets record in the second match starting in Hobart on Friday.