Seeking early hearing on ad cap rule, TRAI stirs up another hornet’s nest
The regulatory body moved an interim application on August 14, asking the Delhi High Court for an early hearing on the 10+2 ad cap norm; case was originally scheduled for an August 22 hearing
Even though the jury is still out on the implementation of NTO 2.0, TRAI is trying for an early resolution of the 10+2 ad cap case.
On August 14, the regulatory body moved an interim application asking the Delhi High Court for an early hearing on the same.
The case was originally scheduled for an August 22 hearing.
Some of the parties associated with the case include the News Broadcasters Association (NBA), B4U, 9X Media, TV Vision, Sun TV Network, E24 and Kalaignar TV.
The case has been pending for seven years now and goes back to March 2013, when TRAI reinstated the Quality of Service norms (QoS) as per the CTNR (Cable Television Network Regulation) laws, 1995. As per the norm, which was initially published as consultation paper in August 2012, every broadcaster could run only 12 minutes of advertisements in an hour, and this may include 10 minutes of commercial advertising and 2 minutes of self-promotion.
The move was vehemently opposed by a section of the community. The News Broadcasters Association (NBA) filed a petition against TRAI in the TDSAT. Some broadcasters also individually opposed the move. TRAI had even initiated criminal proceedings against CEOs of channels who did not follow the mandated ad cap. TDSAT, meanwhile, stayed the ad cap and had agreed to hear the case in November 2013.
In the following December, TDSAT dismissed the case filed by NBA and other broadcasters after the Supreme Court gave a judgment declaring TDSAT to have no power to interfere in TRAI’s recommendations.
This is when the petitioners directly moved the Delhi High Court against TRAI’s 10+2 ad cap restriction.
