Broadcasters breathe a sigh a relief till 13th March 2014

In a new turn to the ad-cap regulation issue, broadcasters breathed a sigh of relief as the Delhi High Court, directed the Telecom Authority of India (TRAI) not to take any action against the broadcasters concerning the ad-cap issue. The order was conceded following a writ petition filed by the broadcasters on 17th December 2013 to get the ad cap reconsidered promptly. The next date for hearing in the case is 13th March 2014.

It may be recalled that on 6th December 2013, the Supreme Court in its ruling said that the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has no authority over TRAI’s regulations, following which, TDSAT directed NBA to move the High Court if they wanted. In the view of this, the tribunal court had written off the cases filed by News Broadcasters Association (NBA), E24, music broadcasters - 9XM, Mastiii, B4U Music and MTunes and Sun TV Network; thus following which, the complainants moved to Delhi High Court.

However, we also learn that the broadcasters are still required to keep the regulator (TRAI) updated about the amount of airtime (the advertisement duration data) on each channel on a weekly basis.
Although, it is an interim respite for the broadcasters, we believe that it is still a long legal battle to be fought!