The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has introduced strict limits in television advertising in the country but sports broadcasts will be exempt.
Indiantelevision.com reports that the authority has limited the duration of advertisements to 12 minutes per hour, with a minimum time gap between consecutive ad breaks of no less than 15 minutes. However, the regulation will not apply for broadcasts of live sporting events. “The advertisements during live broadcast of a sporting event should be only during the breaks in the sporting action,” the regulator said.
In another change, the authority has ruled that part-screen and drop-down advertisements will not be permitted. This will mean only full-screen adverts will be allowed.
The authority said it had acted following complaints from consumers regarding issues such as overplaying of advertisements, the duration of adverts, overlaying of advertisements on the screen and increased audio level during commercial breaks.