In a big relief to viewers, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Friday made it mandatory for broadcasters to restrict the duration of advertisements in their channels to a maximum of 12 minutes of any given hour.
It also said that channels will need to report the duration of advertisements on a quarterly basis.
“The duration of advertisements being carried in TV channels is closely related to the quality of viewing experience of the consumers, akin to the quality of services being offered by the service providers to the consumers,” it said in a statement.
TRAI had first notified the Standards of Quality of Service (Duration of Advertisements in Television Channels Regulation) in 2012. This had led some broadcasters to challenge it in TDSAT stating this would adversely impact their revenues.
This led to a fresh consultation paper and TRAI on Friday stuck to the restriction of duration of advertisements to 12 minutes an hour and notified Standard of Quality of Service (Duration of Advertisements on Television Channels) (Amendment) Regulations 2013.
The regulator said it had studied the duration of advertisements being carried in channels and found a “brazen breach” of the existing rules under the Cable Television Rules 1994.
meenakshi.v@thehindu.co.in