Advertising rule valid but understand industry concern: Tewari

I&B Minister says he has asked senior officials of his ministry to take up the matter with TRAI and find a solution

Trying to allay broadcasters' concerns on the TRAI regulation limiting TV ads to 12 minutes per hour, the government today said it could have strictly enforced the rule if it wanted but has been sensitive to the industry's problems in this regard.

"I do understand your concern with regard to the advertising regulation. And let me tell you very clearly that we do not do indirectly what we do not want to do directly. So if there is anybody under the mistaken impression that we play good cop bad cop with TRAI, let TRAI step on your tail and then offer lip sympathy... Let me disabuse you of this notion," Information & Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari told broadcasters at a CEOs conference on Broadcast here.

"If we wanted to enforce this regulation because it is a part of the licensing conditions which you have undertaken voluntarily, we could have done it directly. This has not been our intent ever."

He said when these regulations came out he understood the concerns of the broadcasters that till the digitisation process completes, subscriber revenue starts kicking in and new revenue model there were difficulties.

He said he had asked senior officials of his ministry to take up the matter with TRAI and find a solution.

Tewari also asked the broadcast industry to consider the creation of a techno-commercial regulator as it had grown exponentially and had unique issues and problems. He, however, added that till now TRAI had played the role well. He clarified that there was no question of regulation of content.