TDSAT will now hear the matter on November 11 giving TV channels a breather. Earlier, Trai had set a deadline of October 1 for implementation of a 12-minute ad cap per clock hour. News broadcasters have been under severe financial stress lately and some channels have actually shut down. On top this, an ad cap of this nature, broadcasters estimate, would lead to losses amounting to over Rs 500 crore.
Passing an interim order, the TDSAT also exempted the NBA from filing weekly report regarding their adherence to Trai's regulation on the ad cap. "Till further orders Trai shall not take any coercive steps against the petitioner (NBA) or its members to follow its regulation," said the TDSAT bench headed by its chairman Justice Aftab Alam.
"In the meanwhile they would not submit weekly reports before Trai. They would maintain the records faithfully and submit it before the tribunal," the bench said. TDSAT also issued notice to Trai on the amended petition filed by the NBA and directed it to file a reply, and gave time to the association to file a rejoinder to it.
Reacting to the order, I&B minister Manish Tewari said, "Considering that TDSAT has ostensibly directed against any coercive action by the regulator it perhaps gives a window to news broadcasters and Trai to look to the drawing board and work out a modus vivendi which entails an implementation path concurrent to digitization while respecting the spirit of the Cable TV act."
Trai contended that broadcasters were violating their commitments given on May 28. They had assured the authority that new channels would bring down the advertisement slots to 20 minutes per hour, and the entertainment channels to 16 minutes during July 1 to September 30. From October 1, they would come to 12 minutes per hour. However, NBA denied giving any such assurances.
On Thursday TDSAT had expressed displeasure over Trai's move to prosecute the broadcasters at a city court by observing: "We are somewhat surprised at the sudden and drastic action taken by the Trai."
Broadcasters have repeatedly sought to impress on both the government and Trai that the proposed ad cap would cripple several TV channels, especially news channels. Industry watchers point to slowing down ad revenues, high carriage fees continuing to be burdensome, and a sluggish economy affecting advertising as reasons for the industry's poor health.
NBA said in a recent statement that in "such a severe economic scenario in the country and on the ground, a forced curb on advertising will have a catastrophic impact on revenues of news broadcasters forcing many to take drastic steps that would have an unavoidable, adverse impact on quality of service and jobs."
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