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Trai willing to discuss with broadcasters on TV ad time issue
NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, whose diktat about television advertisements was challenged by broadcasters, says it is prepared to discuss the issue with organisations of the broadcasters.
This was stated today by its counsel Saket Singh when a petition by News Broadcasters Association and others challenging Trai’s ad regulations came up before the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (Tdsat).
Counsel said Trai was willing to look into various issues raised by the broadcasters which have opposed the move to put a cap on advertising time.
“There are issues we are willing to consider. We are looking in a broad manner,” said the counsel. He said amendments can be made, whatever the issue.
Trai was granted its request for six months for this process by chairman Justice S B Sinha and member P K Rastogi.
Trai assured Tdsat that it would not implement its order and enforce the broadcasters to follow it till 30 August when the matter comes up for hearing.
Trai had issued a notification on 14 May limiting the duration of advertisements in TV channels to 12 minutes per hour. Any shortfall of advertisement duration in any hour cannot be carried over, the telecom regulator had said.
Trai in its regulation had also said that the minimum time gap between any two consecutive advertisement breaks should not be less than 15 minutes and not less than 30 minutes for movies.
However, Trai today also faced questions from the bench over the overlapping of its authority with the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.
“A jurisdiction issue cannot be decided by a statutory authority (Trai),” the tribunal pointed out.
Broadcasters, in their petition filed before Tdsat have questioned the powers of Trai contending that the sectoral regulator has no power to limit the ad times.
According to the broadcasters, such power vests with the Central government and that only it can issue such directions under The Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995.
They further claimed that the present Trai Act, 1997, authorises the regulator to make only recommendations. “The authority has exceeded the mandate given to it by the Central government and instead of making recommendations to the government, proceeded with the formulation of the regulation,” one of the broadcasters in its petition submitted before the Tdsat.
Moreover, by the said regulation, Trai has sought to regulate not only the parameters within which the ads would be carried by the broadcasters on their respective TV channels, but also determined the format, nature and duration of the ads to be carried on TV, the broadcaster said.
“The authority has very ingeniously sought to disguise content regulation as Standards of Quality of Service, which it is not entitled to do,” said the petition.
The Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), News Broadcasters Association (NBA), and several channels had approached Tdsat against the Trai directive. On 12 June, Tdsat had issued a notice, asking Trai to file reply within three weeks. It also gave two weeks time to IBF and other broadcasters to file rejoinders over Trai‘s reply.
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Inshorts Group chief Deepit Purkayastha joins IAB video council for Southeast Asia and India
The co-founder and chief executive of the short-form content platform has been inducted into the IAB SEA+India Video Council, giving India a stronger voice in shaping digital video frameworks
NOIDA: India has long been the world’s most chaotic, multilingual and mobile-first digital market. Now, one of its most prominent short-video executives is getting a seat at the table where the rules are written.
Deepit Purkayastha, co-founder and chief executive of Inshorts Group, has been selected as a member of the IAB SEA+India Video Council for 2026. Run by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the council brings together senior leaders from Southeast Asia and India to shape standards, best practices and measurement frameworks for the fast-evolving video and digital advertising ecosystem.
The timing is pointed. According to the IAMAI-Kantar Internet in India Report 2025, over 588 million Indians are now consuming short-video content, with growth increasingly driven by rural and non-metro audiences. India’s active internet user base has crossed 950 million, with 57 per cent of users now coming from rural markets. Yet the frameworks that govern how video consumption is measured and monetised were largely designed for single-language, Western markets and have struggled to keep pace with the scale, diversity and complexity of India’s digital landscape.
Purkayastha is no stranger to these debates. He already serves on the AI Council at Marketing and Media Alliance India and as co-chair of the Digital Entertainment Committee at the Internet and Mobile Association of India. His induction into the IAB SEA+India Video Council extends that influence into the global video standards arena.
Inshorts Group sits squarely at the intersection of these forces. Its flagship product, Inshorts, India’s highest-rated short news app, reaches 12 million active users with 60-word news summaries. Its sister platform, Public App, reaches 80 million monthly active users across more than 700 districts and 12 languages, serving communities that most global platforms barely register.
Purkayastha said the opportunity was about building something more representative. “India today sits at the centre of the global video ecosystem, but the frameworks that define how value is created and measured have not always kept pace with the realities of our market,” he said. “Being part of the IAB SEA+India Video Council is an opportunity to contribute to a more representative and future-ready approach, one that accounts for diversity in language, context, and user intent.”
As a council member, Purkayastha will contribute to shaping regional standards across video advertising, measurement and platform governance, with a focus on frameworks that are native to India’s multilingual, mobile-first ecosystem rather than imported from global benchmarks designed elsewhere.
For years, India has been content to play by rules written for other markets. Purkayastha’s induction is a signal that it is done waiting to be consulted and ready to start writing them.
