There’s nothing more irritating than having to sit through more minutes of advertising than the actual duration of a show on TV. Things go further downhill when one has to deal with repeated advertisements from the channel about its own shows or those about upcoming segments.
For a few years now, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has been pushing for a ceiling of no more than 12 minutes of advertising per hour on TV channels. But its efforts seem to be going nowhere.
A whopping 140 channels in the country, ranging from news to music, are paying no heed to the guideline, with some even giving out as much as one-third of their total airtime to advertisers.
However, no punishment awaits these wrongdoers except maybe distraught viewers switching off the channels, tired of waiting for a programme to resume "after the break."
The TRAI first released the 12-minutes guideline in 2012 when it was challenged by the ministry of information and broadcasting and broadcasters. Currently, the case is still in the court and Delhi High Court had issued the directive in March in 2013 asking the channels to submit a quarterly report of the advertisement durations until the case got settled. However, TRAI promised in the court to not take any action against the violators until the case is settled.
Features some of the biggest names in the industry, TRAI lists a total of 140 channels who did not comply with the 12-minute guideline between the period of February 23 and March 1 this year.
English news
Only five English news channels were among the 39 news channels that violated the 12 minute deadline :
During prime time, Headlines Today spent over a quarter of an hour in commercial and self-advertising while NDTV Profit was only marginally more. NDTV, too was among the violators with one extra minute of advertising than stipulated. Those willing to brave loud anchors and burning tickers could turn to Times Now which violated the 12 minute deadline by only a few seconds.
Hindi news
Interestingly, Hindi news channels were bigger violators than their English counterparts as three big channels including NDTV declared broadcasting over 20 minutes of ads per hour during prime time. Others such as Aaj Tak, IBN and CNBC Awaaz featured advertisements in the bracket of 15-16 minutes per hour.
English movies
Not many English movies channels featured among the list put out by TRAI. Sony Pix was at the top with more than 15 minutes of advertising and HBO at the bottom with 12.4 minutes of advertising per hour during peak time.
Hindi movies
Predictably, apart from news, Hindi movies was the other category with such a long list of violators, with channels ranging from UTV Action to Set Max featuring on the list. While B4U had 17.4 minutes of advertising per hour, Max wasn’t far behind with 15.6 minutes of ads. UTV movies was at the bottom with a little above 12 minutes of advertising per hour during prime time.
Entertainment channels
Those who like watching daily soaps are not much better off than fans of movies since the likes of Star Plus, Sony, Zee and even Sab TV showed more than 12 minutes of advertising during peak hour. Recently Punit Goenka, the Chief Executive Officer of Zee, had claimed that his company would continue to follow the 12-minute advertising guideline irrespective of what the ministry of information and broadcasting says.
Music channels
Audiophiles probably have the easiest time of them all while watching TV as no music channel in Hindi or English languages showed more than 15 minutes of advertising during prime time even though there were six such channels that showed between 12-15 minutes of it, including MTV and Channel V.
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For a few years now, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has been pushing for a ceiling of no more than 12 minutes of advertising per hour on TV channels. But its efforts seem to be going nowhere.
A whopping 140 channels in the country, ranging from news to music, are paying no heed to the guideline, with some even giving out as much as one-third of their total airtime to advertisers.
However, no punishment awaits these wrongdoers except maybe distraught viewers switching off the channels, tired of waiting for a programme to resume "after the break."
The TRAI first released the 12-minutes guideline in 2012 when it was challenged by the ministry of information and broadcasting and broadcasters. Currently, the case is still in the court and Delhi High Court had issued the directive in March in 2013 asking the channels to submit a quarterly report of the advertisement durations until the case got settled. However, TRAI promised in the court to not take any action against the violators until the case is settled.
Features some of the biggest names in the industry, TRAI lists a total of 140 channels who did not comply with the 12-minute guideline between the period of February 23 and March 1 this year.
English news
Only five English news channels were among the 39 news channels that violated the 12 minute deadline :
During prime time, Headlines Today spent over a quarter of an hour in commercial and self-advertising while NDTV Profit was only marginally more. NDTV, too was among the violators with one extra minute of advertising than stipulated. Those willing to brave loud anchors and burning tickers could turn to Times Now which violated the 12 minute deadline by only a few seconds.
Hindi news
Interestingly, Hindi news channels were bigger violators than their English counterparts as three big channels including NDTV declared broadcasting over 20 minutes of ads per hour during prime time. Others such as Aaj Tak, IBN and CNBC Awaaz featured advertisements in the bracket of 15-16 minutes per hour.
English movies
Not many English movies channels featured among the list put out by TRAI. Sony Pix was at the top with more than 15 minutes of advertising and HBO at the bottom with 12.4 minutes of advertising per hour during peak time.
Hindi movies
Predictably, apart from news, Hindi movies was the other category with such a long list of violators, with channels ranging from UTV Action to Set Max featuring on the list. While B4U had 17.4 minutes of advertising per hour, Max wasn’t far behind with 15.6 minutes of ads. UTV movies was at the bottom with a little above 12 minutes of advertising per hour during prime time.
Entertainment channels
Those who like watching daily soaps are not much better off than fans of movies since the likes of Star Plus, Sony, Zee and even Sab TV showed more than 12 minutes of advertising during peak hour. Recently Punit Goenka, the Chief Executive Officer of Zee, had claimed that his company would continue to follow the 12-minute advertising guideline irrespective of what the ministry of information and broadcasting says.
Music channels
Audiophiles probably have the easiest time of them all while watching TV as no music channel in Hindi or English languages showed more than 15 minutes of advertising during prime time even though there were six such channels that showed between 12-15 minutes of it, including MTV and Channel V.
