| DAVP
sources told indiantelevision.com that broad distribution of advertisements in
monetary terms was set at 70 per cent for national channels and 30 per cent for
regional channels. Provision has been made for review of rates if TAM rate varies
by more than 50 per cent continuously for six months period. The
Directorate will no longer take any departmental charge, as in the case of print
media ads. The Empanelment Advisory Committee constitution has changed and is
headed by the Cost Advisor in the finance ministry, as in the case of the rate
structure committee for Press Advertisements. Although
advertisements amounting to Rs 3.07 billion were released by the government during
2006-07 (around Rs 1 billion to the audio-visual medium), the number of advertisements
released both to the print and the audio-visual media came down over the previous
year. According
to figures released by the ministry, the DAVP released a total of 150,965 advertisements
during the year, of which 130,787 went to the audio-visual media. The
number of advertisements released in 2005-06 was 156,850 (133,471 to the audio-visual
media) and 115,137 in 2004-05 (92,903 to the audio-visual media). However, the
expenditure has gone up from around Rs 1.67 billion in 2004-05 to just over Rs
2.91 billion a year later.
Dasmunsi also announced that the policies relating to two other wings of the ministry
– the Publications Division and the Registrar of Newspapers in India –
have also been reviewed to make the systems more transparent and user friendly.
He
said DAVP’s new Advertisement Policy for print media has come out with measures
to raise the share of small and medium newspapers in the advertising revenue routed
through DAVP. MPs
who took part in the meeting felt more focus and support was needed for the medium
and small newspapers. It was suggested that a deadline may be fixed for release
of advertisements by DAVP so that the newspapers in different parts of the country
can carry the ads and do not miss out. Some of the members also complained about
blockage of funds at the level of the client ministries who had to release these
to DAVP for eventual release to the newspapers. Meanwhile,
DAVP sources said the ministry had been informed that newspapers which have refused
to publish advertisements of public service advertisements, as required in clause
18 (f) of the Advertisement Policy had still not replied to notices sent by the
Directorate. The newspapers stopped publishing the advertisements following a
directive from the Indian Newspaper Society (INS) to member newspapers not to
publish advertisements of PSUs and Autonomous Bodies at DAVP rates. | 
