MUMBAI: Most of 2013 kept the industry preoccupied  with the 12 minute ad cap saga. After the Supreme Court passed a judgment that barred the Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) from looking at appeals against the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) regulations, the appeals were then moved to the Delhi High Court.

And the latter passed an interim order that forbade the TRAI from taking any coercive action against channels  that had appealed in the HC,  even if they did not adhere to the 12 minute per hour limit.

Now, the Tamil GEC run by political party, DMK, Kalaignar TV has got a favourable order from the HC after it also appealed against the TRAI regulation. The HC has asked the regulator not to take any coercive action against the channel and has asked the latter to submit to it weekly ad duration data.

In December, many channels had moved the court who were then given a hearing date of 13 March 2014. Kalaignar TV's writ petition will also be heard along with the others on the same date. The channel was also a part of the list of appeals that had come up before the TDSAT but were told to move it to the Delhi HC after the SC judgement.  

TRAI had passed a quality of service regulation for limiting advertising air time to 12 minutes per hour in mid-2013.