The Central Government has notified the removal of the 12-minute advertisement duration cap for television channels. The decision has come into effect with the notification of the amendment to the Cable Television Networks Rules, 1994, in the Gazette.

Earlier, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry said in a statement that, in view of the changes that have occurred in the TV broadcasting sector, a need was felt to revisit the stipulations relating to advertisement duration. The statement added that in India, the sector is heavily dependent on advertising, irrespective of whether a channel is ‘pay’ or ‘free-to-air’. It said there was a non-level playing field for traditional TV channels vis-à-vis digital media, where no such stipulation on advertisement cap regulation exists.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is of the view that adequate competition exists in the market within the TV industry and between the TV industry and digital media. The advertisement duration cap for television was introduced in 2006 under the Cable Television Networks Rules, 1994. Since then, the TV broadcasting sector has undergone significant changes. In 2006, there were only 62 TV channels, compared to more than 900 channels at present.

At that time, Cable TV, the main platform for delivering TV channels, was analogue and had limited carriage capacity, offering consumers very limited choice. Following the complete digitisation of the Cable TV sector, all TV distribution platforms, including DTH, Cable TV, HITS and IPTV, are now digital. These platforms currently carry 300 to 500 channels or more, meeting diverse consumer needs and enabling greater variety.