TRAI issues notice to channels restricting ad time

Those irritating commercial breaks will soon trouble you less! The new rules from broadcast regulator TRAI limit the duration of ads on TV channels to 12 minutes per clock hour.

This 12-minute limit includes all types of advertisements, including those that promote programmes on the channel itself, and other sister channels.

Further, for live sporting events, advertisements can be carried only during the breaks in the sporting action itself. Any part-screen or drop-down advertising has also been banned. Also, TRAI has mandated that the at least 15 minutes of programming is required between two consecutive ad-breaks. For movie channels, this duration has been set at 30 minutes.

Industry sources say that broadcasters will challenge the TRAI order in the coming days. Their main concern is that these rules will hurt earnings, since almost 70% of channel revenues come from advertising.