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TRAI has urged broadcasters to comply with the 12-minute-per-hour advertizing cap, contempt the regularisation being nether judicial review. The regulator insists the regularisation remains applicable, adjacent arsenic the Delhi High Court has restrained coercive action. Broadcasters are acrophobic astir the enforcement owed to existing fiscal pressures and declining revenues.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) asked broadcasters to adhere to the 12-minute-per-hour headdress connected tv advertisments, adjacent arsenic the bounds is nether judicial consideration, radical with cognition of the substance told ET. The regulator reiterated its stance during a caller gathering with broadcasting companies, held aft show-cause notices were issued connected November 18 for alleged violations of the advertizing duration rule. Trai indicated that the lack of a last judicial result does not dilute the applicability of the regulation. “As things stand, the advertisement headdress regularisation continues to run and broadcasters are required to comply.
While the Delhi High Court has restrained coercive action, determination is nary explicit enactment connected the regularisation itself,” a Trai authoritative told ET. According to the official, the regulator is presently assessing responses received from broadcasters earlier determining its adjacent people of action. “We person not yet decided connected immoderate further enforcement steps,” the authoritative said.
What is the 12-minute-per-hour cap?
The advertizing bounds stems from Trai’s Quality of Service regulations notified successful 2013, work with the 2012 Ad Cap Regulations, which authorities that “no broadcaster shall, successful its broadcast of a programme, transportation advertisements exceeding 12 minutes successful a timepiece hour.”
Trai has besides cited the Cable Television Networks Rules, 1994, which licence a maximum of 12 minutes of advertizing per hour, including up to 10 minutes of commercialized advertizing and 2 minutes of transmission self-promotion, according to ET.
Why are broadcasters astatine unease?
Broadcasting companies person continued flagging concerns implicit the headdress enforcement arsenic it comes astatine a clip erstwhile the tv manufacture is already facing sustained fiscal stress.
Industry executives, cited by ET, person argued that rising operational costs and unit connected revenues are limiting the sector’s quality to sorb further regulatory constraints. “Costs are rising portion revenues are nether unit from some subscription and advertising,” a elder broadcasting enforcement said. Broadcasters person antecedently maintained that the regularisation nary longer aligns with existent marketplace conditions, pointing to declining monetisation levels and expanding contention from integer platforms.
The regulator’s renewed propulsion has added to unease wrong the sector, which is already struggling with muted demand, shrinking advertizing volumes and pricing pressure. In the archetypal 9 months of this year, tv advertizing volumes recorded a driblet of 10% year-on-year, according to TAM AdEx.The regulator had asked broadcasters to respond to the notices issued nether the ad-cap model wrong 15 days and according to ET, astir large networks are expected to person submitted their replies. These notices, according ot souces cited by ET, were sent to large amusement and quality broadcasters, similar JioStar, Zee Entertainment, Culver Max Entertainment, Sun TV Network, TV Today, Network18 and Zee Media. The quality implicit the advertizing headdress has been earlier the courts for implicit a decade. In 2013, the Delhi High Court granted interim alleviation to broadcasters adjacent arsenic Trai initiated proceedings against respective networks for alleged violations of the rule. The regulator has since sought abrogation of the interim relief, with the adjacent proceeding scheduled for January 27, 2026.
