Not that the government has done nothing to deal with the problem, but the government efforts are too little to bring any positive changes. The government recently came up with a policy, making it mandatory for foreign television channels to register in Nepal before letting local cable operators carry their signals. [break]
However, Nirmal Raj Poudel, president of Advertising Association of Nepal (AAN), said that the licensing fee is so low that it hardly restricts channels from airing ever increasing foreign commercials -- one of the major problems that the Nepali advertisement industry has been facing.
As per the new policy, the license fee is Rs 50,000 for channels airing commercials and Rs 25,000 for those without commercials. Poudel said the license fee fixed by Nepal is very low when compared to fee imposed by Indian government on foreign channels. The Indian government charges license fee of Rs 4 million from Nepali channels to broadcast in its territory.
“This has barred Nepali channels from reaching audiences in India,” Poudel said, adding that AAN has been demanding the government to introduce a system called clean feed.
Clean feed is a content filtering system, which can be used to block foreign commercials aired through foreign channels from reaching Nepali audiences. Foreign channels like HBO and Star Movies have clean feed system.
If other foreign channels follow the footsteps of HBO and Star Movies, Poudel is confident that multinational companies will be compelled to invest in Nepali advertisement agencies to promote their products and services in Nepal. "This will definitely generate more jobs and increase the stature of Nepali advertisement industry," Poudel added.
Every year a huge amount of money is flowing out of Nepal through foreign channels. Furthermore, Nepal´s trade deficit is also swelling as it imports more foreign goods that are advertised through foreign channels. According to Nepal Cable TV Association, approximately Rs 25 million is going out of Nepal every year through subscription of foreign television channels.
Poudel also blames lack of investment friendly environment in the country behind low investment in the industry, resulting to only a few launches of new products. "At a time when agencies are growing rapidly, lack of new products and services that need massive campaigns has emerged as a major challenge in terms of long-term financial sustainability of the industry," he said.
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