Broadcasters' body asks TRAI to withdraw ads notification

Says a cap on advertising to a max of 12 minutes/hour will hurt the industry

Expressing concern at the latest TRAI regulation restricting the duration of advertisements on TV channels, the Indian Broadcasting Federation today said such a move will hurt the industry and asked the regulator to withdraw the notification.

The Indian Broadcasting Federation is deeply concerned about Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's notification which will force television broadcasters to a maximum of 12 minutes of advertising in every hour of broadcast, a statement released by the IBF said.

The IBF, which has most of India's top broadcasters as members, said like several industries that continue to reel from the after effects of the global economic recession, the television broadcasting industry has also been suffering.

The industry is largely dependent on advertising revenues for its economic sustenance, IBF said, adding that it had been working with TRAI over the last several months to arrive at a way forward on the quantum of advertising duration.

The trickle back effect from the first stage of digitisation is yet to begin. Carriage fees introduced in 2008 remain a burden, especially for the more than 500 smaller channel operators, the IBF statement said.

Cable TV tariffs remain frozen at 2005 rates. HD TV and pay channel revenues are just about beginning to happen and will take time to start providing economic value. These factors need concomitant addressing, it said.

The broadcasters' body said the new regulation may serve a harsh blow to news channels and sought that TRAI withdraw it.

"Regulation on just advertising minuteage will have a severe impact on the survival of the broadcasting industry from amputation of a critical arm of the fourth estate.

"IBF calls for withdrawal of the notification and re-initiation of a participatory dialogue that helps make self-regulation of advertising minuteage in line with global standards a reality," the statement said.

The IBF statement follows a much more critical statement that had been issued by the News Broadcasters' Association earlier.

"With the general elections looming ahead it appears that this is an attempt to muzzle the media by taking away its ability to operate independently," NBA, which has the country's top news channels as members, had earlier said in a statement about the TRAI's regulation.

On March 22, TRAI, which also acts as the regulator for the broadcasting sector, had notified a regulation as per which every broadcaster would have to within 15 days from the end of a quarter, submit to the Authority the details of advertisements carried in its channel.

The new regulations empowered TRAI to intervene if channels violated the rules, which allow 12 minutes of advertisements per hour.

However in its statement today, the IBF said none of the industry players are in disagreement with the "overall objective of the notification".

"The staging of doing this has to be in line with economic sustenance of the broadcasting business and is best aligned to the full value of digitisation becoming a reality," the IBF said.