Indian television ratings to remain self-regulating – sort of

INDIA-- The Telecoms Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) today came out in support of continued self-regulation for TV audience measurement in the country after legislators earlier raised concerns about “deficiencies” in existing ratings systems.

TRAI has thrown its weight behind the embryonic Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) to oversee and uphold standards in the measurement of TV viewing habits, and to commission a new industry-agreed ratings service.

But despite TRAI's opinion that “government intervention in the form of an enactment is not desirable at this stage”, its recommendations feature heavy government oversight.

For instance, it calls for BARC to feature two nominees of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting – the department that made the original ratings complaint – on its board of directors, and for nominees of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, the National Council of Applied Economic Research and the Indian Statistical Institute to be granted seats on BARC's technical committee.

The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting should also be tasked with setting the key eligibility norms for the selection of ratings agencies, as well as their performance obligations, said TRAI.

While BARC's technical committee appears to have been given free rein to set the sample size of its ratings system, TRAI has said the sample should cover different platforms (terrestrial, cable and satellite), both rural and urban areas, and all the Indian states.

Ratings systems currently operated by TAM Media Research and AMap are restricted to large urban centres of over 100,000 people – a bone of contention for the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting which is concerned about the lack of representation for TV viewers in smaller towns and rural areas.

Addressing this point during the TRAI-run consultation, TAM said it was “ever ready” to expand its panel – it was simply a question of whether the industry was prepared to put the resources in to fund it.

A TAM representative declined to comment on the recommendations today, saying executives were still digesting the contents of the 120-page report. An AMap spokesman could not be reached.

TRAI's recommendations are online here. It has given stakeholders until the 29 July to comment.

Author: Brian Tarran