India: Never-ending commercial breaks

The grounds on which broadcasters are opposing the regulation that limits the advertisement duration on television channels have no substance

One of the latest developments on the broadcast regulation front, and important from the viewer’s perspective, is the revised regulation on the limitation of advertisements on television channels to 12 minutes per clock hour.

In March 2012, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) came up with a detailed consultation paper on “Issues related to advertisements in TV Channels.” Two months later, it notified the Standards of Quality of Service (Duration of Advertisements in Television Channels) Regulations, 2012 (15 of 2012). However, broadcasters challenged the TRAI regulation.

REVISED REGULATION

TRAI then reconsidered the matter and, on March 22, 2013, notified a revised regulation called Standards of Quality of Service (Duration of Advertisements in Television Channels) (Amendment) Regulations, 2013. This amended regulation retained a key provision of the principal regulation, i.e., “no broadcaster shall, in its broadcast of a programme, carry advertisements exceeding twelve minutes in a clock hour. Explanation: The clock hour shall commence from 00.00 of the hour and end at 00.60 of that hour (example: 14.00 to 15.00 hours).”

The broadcasting fraternity, led by the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) and the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), has vehemently opposed TRAI’s move. Last week, the broadcasters met the Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, Manish Tewari, to express their reservations. Mr. Tewari is reported to have said: “We have encouraged the finding of a modus vivendiwhereby the imperatives of the consumer’s value for money as well as the imperatives of their revenue model can be balanced.”