MUMBAI: It took four days for the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) to present its arguments in the ad cap case against the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to the Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT). But it finally concluded presenting the news industry's viewpoint on it in terms of existing regulation. After pointing out how the proposed ad cap was reportedly in violation of statutory and constitutional law, its lawyers today highlighted the commercial compulsions and problems that news broadcasters face.
    

One of the major points highlighted that was drawn out is the issue of high carriage fees that is crippling the whole news industry. News broadcasters have to pay about 30 percent and sometimes even 50 per cent of their revenues as carriage fees while for the GECs it is about 20 per cent.

“Although they might be paying the same amount as carriage fees, their revenue is higher and instead of regulating something as important as this, TRAI is trying to impose ad cap,” says a news broadcaster.

TDSAT has asked NBA to file affidavits on Monday to demonstrate the commercial impact any changes in air time will have on their survival. This includes tabulating the revenues they generate in a non-12 minute per hour ad cap scenario and what they expect these to drop to on its imposition.
With the NBA concluding its presentations, it will be on to the other channels and the TRAI to state their case when hearing begins from Monday - after tomorrow's recess.