Broadcasters to stick to 12 minute ad/hour rule from Oct 1

In view of Telecom Authority of India's (TRAI) tough stance, broadcasters have decided to reduce the air time for advertisements shown on channels to 12 minutes by October 1.

Sources told PTI that after consultations with TRAI and within themselves, the broadcasters decided that they would reduce the quantum of advertisements shown every hour in a phased manner till they reach the limit of not more than 12 minutes of air time every hour as prescribed by rules.

No channel would show more than 30 minutes of advertisements per hour from Thursday as was being done by some channels till now, said a source.

From July 1 onwards, channels that offers news services would confine advertising to 20 minutes per hour, while all non news channels would limit it to 16 minutes.

Finally from October 1, all channels would abide by the TRAI rule which states that channels would not show more than 12 minutes of advertisements every hour.

When asked about the developments, Indian Broadcasting Federation (IBF) General Secretary Shailesh Shah said that broadcasters have agreed, though reluctantly, to reduce the amount of time in which advertisements are shown.

"Broadcasters have reluctantly agreed to reduce advertisements shown in a phased manner to comply with the Quality of Service notification issued in March 2013 by TRAI," Shah said.

Earlier on March 22, TRAI had armed itself with a regulation as per which it had the power to intervene if channels crossed the 12-minute of ads per hour limit prescribed by rules. Taking exception to TV channels not following rules on advertisements, TRAI had made it mandatory for broadcasters to provide details of commercials telecast in every 15 days.