The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has announced new policy guidelines for empanelment of private cable and satellite TV channels for government advertisements released by Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP). In a statement issued in New Delhi today , the Ministry has said that the primary objective of these guidelines is to empanel such Channels and fix their telecast and broadcast rates.

It is expected that the new guidelines would obtain the widest possible coverage for the media campaigns released by DAVP on behalf of Central government ministries and departments.It said that the existing criterion of 0.02 per cent all India channel share for empanelment with DAVP has been done away with under the new guidelines. This will ensure large number of regional channels to be part of DAVP’s panel.

Another key aspect of the new guidelines is the focus on reaching out to regional channels in media campaigns. The policy stipulates that out of the total annual budget allocation for Television Media Campaign, 40 per cent shall be exclusively earmarked for regional channels.

The policy mentions that while finalizing the media plan , it has to be ensured that bottom up approach is adopted, it means channels in that region should be first widely covered, followed by other mainstream channels. Under the new guidelines, rate structures have also been revised which include that for advertisement of 15, 25, 35, 45 seconds or any other duration which is in multiple of 5 seconds, the same will be payable on proportionate basis and there will be separate rates for Live cricket matches.