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Tag: Competition Commission of India

  • Prasar Bharati, which believes that the TAM data under-represents terrestrial and rural reach of Doordarshan, is holding consultation with the ministry and contemplating appropriate action against TAM

    AAAI, ISA to meet TAM on Aug 16 as MIB, Prasar Bharti mull probe

    By A Correspondent

     

    The ministry of information & broadcasting and Prasar Bharati will jointly investigate allegations of fudging of television viewership by TAM Media Research. The two have also sought an explanation from TAM on this issue.

     

    Prasar Bharati, which believes that the TAM data completely under-represents terrestrial and rural reach of Doordarshan – the state broadcaster, is holding consultation with the ministry and contemplating appropriate action against TAM, a senior government official, who asked not to be named, said.

     

    “It is high time transparency and fairness came into the system,” the Information & Broadcasting ministry official said. The ministry has written to TAM asking for an explanation. “Within this week, we are also sending out reference letters to TRAI, the telecom regulator, and Competition Commission of India,” the official added.

     

    The Prasar Bharati board has already given in-principle approval to collate facts, seek legal opinion and hold consultations with the ministry on the issue of misrepresentation and under-reporting of data for Doordarshan by TAM.

     

    “Prasar Bharati also feels that TAM data completely under-represents terrestrial and rural reach of Doordarshan. We always felt that this has caused immense losses to the state broadcaster,” said the person.

     

    TAM Media Research India’s chief executive officer, LV Krishnan, said he has no comments to offer on the issue.

     

    New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV) has sued The Nielsen Company, a global research and information firm, and its partner Kantar Media Research in a New York court for tampering with TV viewership data to favour broadcasters who allegedly bribed executives in its Indian JV, TAM.

     

    NDTV has filed a suit in the New York State Supreme Court seeking damages of around $1.4 billion for negligence and fraud and hundreds of millions more for interference and breach of fiduciary duty. Advertisers and media agencies depend on TAM data-the only available measurement for TV viewership – to negotiate ad rates.

     

    Meanwhile, concerned by NDTV’s allegations on TAM, the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) has called for a meeting with TAM officials later this week. “We are meeting the TAM officials to get the facts rights and understand the issue in the right perspective,” said Arvind Sharma, president, AAAI. The Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) would be attending the meeting, which has been scheduled for August 16, 2012.

     

    “Since advertising agencies are involved in media planning and buying, which is dependent on TAM ratings, we need to know if there is anything to be concerned about,” said Mr Sharma.

     

    Advertisers also say that it was time for media buying agencies to stop relying only on TAM. “Our media buying agencies depend on the ratings provided by TAM. The onus is on marketers to demand from the agencies basis at which they have been spending the advertisers’ money. There have been issues like TAM’s sample size, but over a period of time lethargy had set in,” said Salil Kapoor, chief operating officer, Dish TV.

     

    Source: The Economic Times

    Copyright © 2012, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved

     

  • The Commission has also directed that the contravening entities should 'cease and desist' from indulging in anti-competitive practices

    CCI penalizes Fast Way group MSOs Rs 8cr

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Competition Commission of India has found Fast Way Group abusing its dominance in the cable TV service in theterritoryofPunjabandChandigarhin violation of the provisions of the Competition Act, 2002.

     

    The order was passed pursuant to investigation carried out by the Director General upon information filed by M/s Kansan News Private Limited, a broadcaster of a news and current affairs TV channel known as Day and Night News, operating in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Union Territory of Chandigarh.

     

    The Commission has imposed penalty on the Group entities, namely – M/s Fast Way Transmission Pvt. Ltd, M/s Hathway Sukhamrit Cable & Datacom Pvt. Ltd, and M/s Creative Cable Network Pvt. Ltd at the rate of 6 per cent of their average turnover for the last three preceding financial years. The penalty so worked out amounts to  nearly Rs8 crore.

     

    The Commission held that the Fast Way Group is having more than 85 per cent of the total subscribers in Punjab and Chandigarh, and due to this fact not only every broadcaster including the informant is dependent upon their network, even the consumers of cable TV in Punjab &Chandigarh have huge dependency on the Fast Way Group. They do not have any effective substitute to switch over to the other network. Abusing its market power, the Fast Way Group has denied the informant the opportunity for transmission of it channel on its network and thereby has effectively denied it access to the market.

     

    The contravening Multi Service Operator has been directed to deposit the penalty amount within 90 days. The Commission has also directed that the contravening entities should ‘cease and desist’ from indulging in anti-competitive practices which have the effect of denial of market access as discussed in the order.

     

  • The deal, expected to be around Rs2,700 crore, is touted to be one of the biggest in the media industry

    Competition Commission approves RIL Trust’s stake buy in Network 18, TV18

    By A Correspondent

     

    India’s competition watchdog has approved Reliance Industries’ acquisition of stake in Raghav Bahl’s media companies Network 18 and TV18 Broadcast.

     

    The Independent Media Trust, a trust set up for the benefit of Reliance Industries Limited, acquired the stake by subscribing to the optionally convertible debentures of companies controlled by Mr Bahl.

     

    The deal, expected to be around Rs2,700 crore, is touted to be one of the biggest in the media industry.

     

    The Competition Commission of India states in its order that the assessment of competitive impact of the proposal was carried out to ascertain whether both groups are engaged in production, supply, distribution, storage, sale or trade of similar or identical or substitutable goods or services.

     

    However, CCI noted that new channels can be started with ease in the country given the scope of innovation and technology. “The commission is of the opinion that the proposed combination is not likely to have any appreciable adverse effect on competition in the business of supply of television channels in India… specific determination of relevant product and geographic market in respect of supply of television channels in India is not necessary,” the CCI said in an order put up on the commission’s website.

     

    The TV18 group operates CNN-IBN and CNBC TV18 channels, among others.

     

    Source: The Economic Times
    Copyright © 2012, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved