Thursday 18 July 2013

NBA takes 12-minute ad cap to TDSAT

The cap of 12 minutes of advertisement in a clock hour on TV channels as stipulated in the Cable TV Act 1995 and implemented by TRAI as part of Quality of Service (QoS) regulations has been challenged by News Broadcasters Association in TDSAT.
TDSAT on 17 July 2013 directed NBA to submit its appeal and allowed Trai two weeks to respond to the concerns raised. If upheld, the TRAI order could spell the death knell for news channels.

Since July 1, broadcasters have reduced advertisement time from 25-30 minutes an hour to 18 minutes for news channels and 15 minutes for non-news channels to implement the ad regulation in a phased manner. From October 1, this will come down to 12 minutes per hour for all channels in keeping with the TRAI QoS regulations.
According to Rule 7(II) of Cable Television Network Rules 1994 prescribing the advertising code, “No programme shall carry advertisements exceeding twelve minutes per hour, which may include up to ten minutes per hour of commercial advertisements, and up to two minutes per hour of the channel’s self promotional programmes.”
Since TRAI is the regulator, it is only trying to ensure compliance to the existing rules and regulations in the industry including Cable TV networks, DTH services and Satellite Broadcasters.
Broadcasters who have been flouting many regulations like Content Codes, Advertisement codes, cap on ad duration, violations of uplinking and downlinking guidelines etc. are now been asked to come in line when the whole industry is getting organized.
Like other stake holders including cable operators and MSOs, all are investing heavily and paying heavily to comply by the regulations, losing lot of revenue in this implementation process in paying for the equipment, networks and heavy taxes. Broadcasters who will ultimately be the biggest gainers are also expected to abide by the regulations for the benefit of millions of subscribers who are being asked to pay two to three times more for mandatory digital cable services.
Industry sources said that the cutting down of inventory coupled with heavy carriage fees and other costs could force many small channels to shut down. The 12-minute advertisement cap has been opposed by broadcasters who have argued that the broadcast regulator has jumped the gun by unilaterally issuing the order without consultations. Broadcasters have been of the view that the order could have waited till the full impact of digitization kicked in. In a way they wish to violate the regulations for some more time.
After hearing the parties, the TDSAT conceded NBA's request and has permitted NBA to amend its appeal within two weeks. TRAI has been given two weeks thereafter to file its reply to the amended appeal and NBA has been given a further two weeks after that to file a rejoinder to the TRAI reply.
So far all ‘pay’ channels were distributed without addressability for so many years. Now, once the system is being organised implementing digitalisation and addressability, customer will be the king and decide who will stay or go out from the industry.

Source:
http://cablequest.org/news/national-news/item/2836-nba-takes-12-minute-ad-cap-to-tdsat.htmlSource: http://cablequest.org/news/national-news/item/2836-nba-takes-12-minute-ad-cap-to-tdsat.html

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