New Delhi : The ad cap imposed by previous UPA government based on the recommendation of TRAI that created an uncertainty on the survival many Television channels all over the county is likely to witness a relief at last as the Information and Broadcasting ministry is considering the idea of removing the 10+2 ad cap for Free to Air (FTA) alone.
Earlier, The ad cap had been imposed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to keep a check on ad breaks during per hour of programming. However, the move has threatened the endurance of many FTA channels, as they have been surviving on a maximized ad duration in an hour of programming thus by giving cheaper ad rates to the advertisers with better value additions.
The introduction of ad-cap has prompted the FTA channels to increase the ad rates considerably which the advertisers were not willing to pay, whereby, their business model was under a great threat, which prompted many channels to defy the 10+2 ad-cap regime and approach the court for a relief. The FTA channels claim that they are pitted against pay channels, that also get subscription fee and wanted the government to intervene to create a level-playing field.
Sources confirm that Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar has assured the FTA channels at various forums that he would favourably consider their plea of scrapping the proposed 12 minute ad cap.
Presently there are around 548 FTA, which include both news and non-news channels out of the 810 channels approved by the government as of 31 August 2014
