CCI to probe Prasar Bharati complaint against TAM

New Delhi: Fair trade regulator CCI has decided to investigate alleged unfair practices in tracking of television audience count, following a complaint filed in this regard by public broadcaster Prasar Bharati against Television Audience Management (TAM). Prasar Bharti had filed a complaint late last year with the Competition Commission of India (CCI) against TAM, alleging abuse of dominant market position and use of unfair trade practices in determining television audience count for various broadcasters. "We are going to investigate the complaint against TAM," a CCI official told PTI. TAM Media Research is a joint venture between Nielsen (India) Private Limited and Kantar Market Research. The complaint against TAM is likely to be probed for alleged violations of Competition Act`s Section 4, which pertains to abuse of dominant market position by an enterprise, the official said.

CCI, which is mandated to keep a tab on anti-competitive practices in the market across sectors, refers a case for detailed probe by its investigating arm, Director General (DG) of CCI, after finding prima facie evidence to violations of competition rules. In its complaint, Prasar Bharati had alleged that TAM was limiting the provisions of audience measurement services. There were also allegations that while there were more than 20 million TV households in the country, TAM installed meters in only 8,000 homes and that too in the cities that had a population of more than one lakh. The agency has also been accused of ignoring rural as well as smaller towns. PTI