TRAI issued notice by Delhi HC with regard to PIL ban

A notice has been issued to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) by the Delhi High Court with regard to the PIL which seeks a ban on the television commercials which overshadow the main programmes and also against the part screen ads which are a cause of distraction to the audiences. Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice RS Endlaw who head the Delhi High Court bench issued the notice on receiving a PIL from an NGO. The matter in question has been posted for a hearing on 15th July 2014.

When TRAI introduced the 12-minute ad cap rule under its Standards of Quality of Service (Duration of Advertisements in Television Channels) Regulations, 2012, it had also decided to discontinue permission for loud and part screen TV commercials. However the latter was overlooked by TRAI when enforcing the regulations.

Mediawatch India considers this act on part of TRAI as ‘mala fide’ and has challenged this omission. Mediawatch India lawyer Gaurav K Bansal in his PIL said, “Such act of omission is not only a failure of TRAI in discharging its statutory responsibility but highly detrimental to the interests of millions of Indian TV audience.”

The NGO in its PIL has requested the court to look into the matter and instruct TRAI to make the necessary amendments in the regulations which in turn will be applicable to TV channels transmitted by local cable operators (LCOs), multi-system operators (MSOs), direct-to-home (DTH) service providers and internet protocol television service providers. With regard to television channels and relevant service providers the NGO has also requested for a grievance redressal mechanism which will allow for effective enforcement of regulations on the same.

It also stipulated that each and every broadcaster would have to ensure that only full screen advertisements and no part screen or drop down ads would be carried on the channels. It further added that it would be imperative for the broadcaster to ensure that the audio level of advertisements would not exceed the audio level of the programmes that are being aired on the channel.

Also to be noted is that news, music and a few regional broadcaster’s, have challenged TRAI’s 12 minute ad cap rule and the hearing for this too is expected to come up before the same bench of the Delhi High Court on 15th July 2014.