The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on March 22 notified an already-existing regulation, which restricts the advertising time on television channels (both entertainment and news) to 12 minutes in a one-hour slot, following complaints against channels for violating the existing norms.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had issued guidelines around three years ago restricting the channels to telecast commercial advertisements for 10 minutes and channel promos for two minutes in every hour. However, failure of most television channels to comply with the ministry’s norms sparked the regulator’s move.

“The data obtained by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and that collected from the broadcasters, clearly established the general perception that most of the TV channels are in brazen breach of the existing rules on the subject,” Trai had said in a statement.

Linking the duration of advertisements with the quality of viewing experience, Trai notified the Standards of Quality of Service (Duration of Advertisements in Television Channels) (Amendment) Regulations, 2013.

According to the new regulation, Trai has now made it mandatory for channels to make quarterly disclosures of the number of advertisements it airs to ensure transparency. In addition, the regulator can intervene if channels are caught violating the norms.

With the new regulation in place, the telecom regulator will be able to monitor the duration of advertisements being telecast in every hour, especially during prime time slots and on other occasions like the IPL season.

While the regulator has exuded confidence that the move will enhance the TV viewing experience, the broadcasters have been left fuming as they claim that the move would severely impact their revenues.

The Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) and News Broadcasters Association (NBA) issued strongly-worded statements protesting against the regulator's move. While NBA has termed it as the government's strategy to “muzzle the media before the general elections”, the IBF has requested for the withdrawal of notification and thorough thinking-through before any such regulation is put in place.

The NBA claimed that due to the prevalent economic crisis in the country, advertisements were the only source of income for channels and that restricting their timing would hurt the channels' incomes.

However, Trai continues to remain unperturbed and has said that despite the building protests and accusations it would go ahead with ensuring implementation of the new norms.

The regulator had earlier issued regulations restricting the ad-break timing on channels in May last year. The move was challenged by broadcasters who moved the telecom disputes settlement and appellate tribunal (TDSAT) accusing the regulator of interfering in matters beyond their jurisdiction. The tribunal had directed all the parties to hold consultations to decide the future course of action and had instructed Trai not to implement the regulation till then. However, nothing conclusive came out of it.

The notification comes as a follow-up to the regulator’s move to reinforce the 12-minute ad-break rule with immediate effect. This has come as a bad news for broadcasters as they cannot turn towards TDSAT, which is presently dysfunctional in the absence of a full bench. They have, however, threatened to move the high court seeking redressal.

Indeed the move has been taken in the larger interest of the public but then it is for the regulator to consider if it has jumped the gun. Especially, with the imposition of carriage fees from 2008 onwards and digitisation only in its initial phase, benefits of which are yet to accrue, has Trai, which introduces regulations after receiving recommendations from various stakeholders, sidelined the economic interests of a major stakeholder — the channels?