India, Aug. 24 -- The Central Government has removed the long-standing 12-minute limit on TV advertisements, marking a major change in India's broadcasting rules. This change took effect after an amendment to the Cable Television Networks Rules, 1994, was published in the official Gazette. The amendment ends the rule that limited ads to 12 minutes per hour on TV channels.

Before this change, channels had to adhere to the ad limit and use the remaining time for shows. Many people in the industry said the cap made it harder to earn revenue and did not align with how viewers now watch TV or with competition from digital platforms.

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry said earlier that it was important to review the rules on ad duratio...