MUMBAI: The broadcasting industry of India has been facing several issues right from carriage fees to the imposition of the ad cap. In order to reduce the burden on the broadcasters, the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) and the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) have now decided to unite and present their views to the highest authorities in India.  

India TV chairman and editor in chief Rajat Sharma who is also the NBA president and the IBF vice president of strategic affairs, said that the two bodies will meet the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and the Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar to make them aware about the growing cancer called carriage fees. ''We will also show a revenue model that MSOs can adopt so that we don't become dependent on carriage fees,'' said Sharma.    

Regarding ad cap he said that they will show the ministers the kind of revenue loss the channels will incur if the 10+2 minute ad cap is implemented. The case is currently being fought by the NBA in the Delhi High Court.  “We will request for the 12 minute advertising cap to be removed from the licencing conditions,” he said. The NBA president added that no channel, be it a news channel or a GEC, wants to show more than five minutes of advertising but the revenue model forces them to do so. “None of us want to compromise on programming,” he said.

The new ratings system that will be applicable once BARC India starts its operations, should be transparent, he said. ''Till the time these issues are not addressed, the industry will keep suffering,'' he opined.   

While speaking to indiantelevision.com, Sharma said that the meeting is expected to happen in the next few days.

Sharma was addressing a keynote at the Seventh Indian News Television Summit, organised by indiantelevision.com where he discussed the role of a news channel and the challenges and hurdles that they face.