Ad makers demand ‘clean feed’ policy

KATHMANDU, JUN 14

Advertising entrepreneurs on Saturday demanded the government implement clean feed policy to help the sector grow.

Under the clean feed system, TV channels that charge for contents cannot broadcast advertisements. Many countries have adopted such a policy, and Nepali entrepreneurs have long been demanding the same. As the government has prepared a draft policy, the entrepreneurs want its finalisation and implementation.

Speaking at the 25th anniversary of the Advertising Association of Nepal (AAN), its president Santosh Shrestha asked the government to implement the clean feed policy at the earliest. He urged the government to help AAN build  a media centre at Tinkune.

Minister for Information and Communications Minen-dra Rijal said Nepal’s advertising market flourished after the restoration of democracy in 1990. “The economy took a leap after the political change, which also helped the advertising market grow,” he said.

Chief Secretary Lilamani Poudel said the government was serious about the clean feed policy. “The policy and Act on advertisement will also be introduced soon,” he said.

President of Nepal Media Society Kailash Sirohiya stressed on the need for a close cooperation between advertising agencies and the media. “The Media Society and Kantipur Media Group are ready to provide any necessary support to AAN,” he said. Former senior vice-president of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Bhaskar Raj Rajkarnikar said more efforts were needed to boost the advertising market as its growth has stalled at Rs5 billion a year.

On the occasion, AAN felicitated advertising entrepreneurs actively involved in advertising for the last 25 years. It also carried out sanitation at Pashupati and Rammandir area under the Bagmati Sanitation Campaign. AAN was established on June 13, 1990.

Source: The Kathmandu Post