 "TV channels move TDSAT over TRAI's ad cap norm")
Some of the television channels have approached appellate tribunal TDSAT against 12-minute per hour cap on advertisements imposed by sectoral regulator TRAI.
Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) had earlier withdrawn its petition against the TRAI's regulation on ad cap.
Broadcasters Sun TV, B4U Broadband, 9X Media and Polimer Media, which are members of IBF, have approached the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) on the ad cap issue.
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Some entertainment channels such as TV Vision and E24 have also approached the tribunal opposing the cap.
TDSAT has asked the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to file its reply and listed the matter on October 21 for next hearing.
The respondent (Trai) states that it will be filing reply on October 4, 2013, TDSAT said.
Reliance Big Broadcasting Pvt Ltd, which is also an IBF member, had also filed a similar petition and the matter is listed for hearing tomorrow.
IBF had withdrawn its petition on September 11 against TRAI's Quality of Service (QoS) regulation, which mandates channels to show not more than 12 minute of ad and promotional content per hour.
"The appellants (IBF) have filed an application... For withdrawal of the Appeal. The application is allowed and the Appeal is dismissed as withdrawn," the tribunal had said on September 11.
However, the News Broadcasters Association(NBA), which represents news channels, had got some relief on August 30 from the TDSAT which has directed "till further orders, the TRAI shall not take any coercive measures against the appellants or its members to make them abide by the impugned Regulations".
Moreover, it had also exempted news broadcasters" from submitting the weekly report to the TRAI". Meanwhile, it had asked news broadcasters to "faithfully maintain record of the time of advertisement per hour for examination by the Tribunal at the time of hearing of the Appeal".