12-minute ad cap may be lifted for Free to Air TV channels

The 12-minute advertisement cap per hour might soon be lifted from the Free To Air TV channels, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said Wednesday.

Chairing the first meeting of the Task Force for Cable Digitization for phases three and four at Vigyan Bhavan here, Javadekar said the ministry would soon deliberate on whether the 12-minute ad cap was needed for the FTA channels.

He said the ad cap imposed by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) last year was "right", but said while the pay channels can earn money through subscription, the move was "restrictive" for the Free to Air channels.

He said the ministry was working on a proposal to "release" the FTAs from the 12-minute advertisement cap as these channels depend only on commercials for survival.

In March last year, TRAI had passed the order capping advertising time on TV channels to a maximum of 12 minutes per hour.

The regulator had said it was to protect the interest of consumers and improve the quality of service being offered.

The FTA channels maintain that pay channels get subscription fee and have urged the government to create a level playing field.

Of the 810 TV channels in India, close to 548 are FTA, which include both news and non-news channels.