(a) whether the Government has fixed any criteria/made guidelines for allocating time slot for
the telecast of advertisements in between programmes shows on television;
(b) if so, the details thereof and the date on which it was to come into effect;
(c) whether the said guidelines are being followed by all private TV channels and Doordarshan
channels;
(d) if so, the details thereof; and
(e) if not, the reasons therefore alongwith the monitoring mechanism set up to monitor the
same?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF INFORMATION & BROADCASTING (SHRI C.M. JATUA)
(a) & (b) All Private Satellite TV channels have to follow the provisions contained in Rule 7 (11) of the Cable Television Networks Rules, 1994 which provides that no porgramme shall
carry advertisements exceeding twelve minutes per hour which may include upto ten minutes
per hour of commercial advertisements and upto two minutes per hour of a channel’s self
promotional programmes. The said provision came into effect through a notification which was
issued on 31.07.2006.
Regarding Doordarshan Channels there is a fixed time slot for telecast of advertisements in
between the programmes shown on Doordarshan. As per the sponsorship guidelines, for a 30
minutes programme 7.5 minutes of advertisements/promos/public service messages etc. can be
telecast. The sponsorship guidelines came into effect from 1.7.2004.
(c) to (e) The Electronic Media Monitoring Centre (EMMC) set up by the Ministry of Information
and Broadcasting constantly monitors TV channels for any violation.
It is informed that Doordarshan Channels adhere to the above guidelines, however, complaints
of violations of the said rule by some private channels have been received in the Ministry.
Broadcasters have also made a request to the Ministry to reconsider Rule-7 (11) of Cable Rules
so as to increase the time limit of showing advertisements on TV Channels.