Claiming that the news broadcasting industry is in a dire financial condition, news channels today asked Information and Broadcasting Ministry and TRAI to issue a notifications to keep the implementation of 12-minute ad cap in abeyance.
In a statement, the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) said if the ad cap was implemented at this stage, the estimated revenue loss across news channels would be in excess of Rs 500 crore, forcing cuts of at least that amount in costs if channels have to survive.
"NBA requests the Ministry and TRAI to come out with a final notification keeping the ad cap for news channels in abeyance as above in the next 10 days as any delay beyond that will have an irreparable impact on the industry," the statement said.
The NBA welcomed the recent statements of I&B minister Manish Tewari supporting extending the timeline for the implementation of the 12-minute ad cap for news channels till the implementation of the final phase of digitisation is complete.
"The NBA is happy that it has been understood that the industry is in a dire financial condition, like many other sectors of the Indian economy, with ad revenues being slow, carriage fees continuing to be burdensome and credible subscription revenues being out of sight," the statememt said.
"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," it added.
The NBA also said the burdensome and crippling nature of carriage fees, which have no business to exist in a truly digitized environment, should be addressed urgently.
