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Television news channels stand to lose over Rs 500 crore if the 12-minute cap on advertisements comes into effect in October this year.
In a statement on Tuesday, the News Broadcasters Association said, “It is estimated that if the ad cap were indeed implemented at this stage, the revenue loss across news channels would be in excess of Rs 500 crore, forcing job cuts of at least that amount in costs, if channels have to survive.”
It pointed out that the news broadcasting sector was facing a financial crunch due to the general economic slowdown, with ad revenues slowing down, carriage fees continuing to be burdensome and credible subscription revenues being out of sight.
The association said that a forced curb on advertising would have a catastrophic impact on revenues for news broadcasters, forcing many to take drastic steps, adding, “that would have an unavoidable adverse impact on quality of services and jobs.”
It may be recalled that last week TV18 Broadcast laid off over 350 employees.
Deadline extension
The association also welcomed the Minister of Information and Broadcasting Manish Tewari’s recent suggestion that the deadline for the 12-minute ad-cap for news broadcaster could be extended till digitisation is complete in 2014.
It urged the I&B Ministry and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to come out with a final notification for news channels in, “abeyance as above, in the next 10 days as any delays beyond that will have an irreparable impact on the industry”.
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