India: Trai regulates TV ads despite opposition

The country’s leading sports and general broadcasters are set to take legal recourse against sector regulator Trai's move to streamline advertisements on television channels. The most affected will be sports channels like Set Max, ESPN and STAR India (now having India cricket rights), TEN Sports and others who cannot carry ads after the fall of wicket, a four or six scored or any other non-regular breaks during the match.

For general broadcasters, Trai has capped the duration of ads to 12 minutes per hour and also made it mandatory to carry only 'full-screen' ads. Also, broadcasters will need to maintain a gap of 15 minutes between the end of one session of TV ads and the beginning of the next session.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Monday laid down regulations capping the duration of advertisements across various genres of television channels as part of maintaining quality of service in viewing. Sources said these regulations were firmed up under the guidance of former Trai chairman JS Sarma, who retired on Sunday. Trai's authority to regulate TV advertising has been questioned by several leading broadcasters like STAR, Zee, Sony, ESPN and associations like IBF, NBA and others, during the consultation process.

These regulations have been issued by Trai under the title ‘Standards of Quality of Service (Duration of Advertisements in Television Channels) Regulations, 2012’.

Experts said most affected will be sports channels as Trai regulations makes it mandatory for sports channels to carry advertisements only after a regular break - change of over in case of cricket, half-times in football and hockey, and change of set in tennis.

“The move will directly impact the spot rates for ongoing IPL-5. Barring drop-down ads and side-panel ads will also hurt revenues,” said a senior media planner who buys airtime on behalf of leading corporates.

An executive representing a leading sports channel said: “Prima facie, there is enough substance to legally challenge these regulations. Sports broadcasting is different from general broadcasting. The business fundamentals will get affected if these regulations are enforced on us.” Even broadcasting bodies like IBF and NBA, and industry bodies like CII and Ficci are expected to take the matter with the government, sources said.