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Tag: Kantar Market Research

  • Delhi HC extends stay on Kantar, case pushed to Feb 2015

    Delhi HC extends stay on Kantar, case pushed to Feb 2015

    MUMBAI: The hearing on the case between Kantar Market Research and the government of India has been put off to 12 February 2015.

     

    The case that was last heard on 8 September saw a notice of the application by the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) being accepted by the Kantar counsel that has been asked to file a response within two weeks. After this, an advance copy of the same will be given to the IBF who may then file a response in two or three weeks’ time.

     

    The case has been put off to 12 February 2015, on account of the personal reasons of the Kantar counsel, who had prayed for a date in January 2015.

     

    Meanwhile, the interim order on the case will continue that will allow Kantar’s subsidiary TAM Media Research to publish ratings till the verdict on the case is out.

     

    Kantar had challenged the cross-holding norm in the policy guidelines for TV rating agencies for which it had got the HC’s stay order. However, the research agency still hasn’t received any response from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on its application to be registered as a TV ratings service.

     

    Apart from the IBF, the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) has also joined the respondents in favour of the guidelines.

  • Kantar gets stay on cross-shareholding norms; TAM can continue publishing viewership ratings

    Kantar gets stay on cross-shareholding norms; TAM can continue publishing viewership ratings

    NEW DELHI: While declining to stay Policy Guidelines for Television Rating Agencies in India, the Delhi High Court today directed that the sections relating to cross-holding will not come into force till the conclusion of the petition by Kantar Market Research Services, a shareholder of TAM Media Research, the only television viewership rating agency in India.

     

    Fixing the next date of hearing for 6 March, Justice Manmohan also stayed sections 16.1 and 16.2 of the Guidelines, thus giving freedom to TAM to continue offering its ratings to its clients.

     

    Taking note of the undertaking by Mr Mukul Rohatgi, senior counsel for Kantar, the Court said TAM would get another two weeks to get registered as required by the Policy Guidelines.

    The Court also took note of the undertaking by Rohatgi that the full list of companies that are associated with TAM and their clients will be placed on the website within two weeks.

     

    The sections relating to cross-holding which state that the same company cannot hold shares in both TRP companies and the media are 1.7a and 1.7d.

     

    The earlier deadline for TAM Media Research to get registered under the Policy Guidelines was 15 February.

     

    When Rohatgi insisted on a stay of the policy guidelines till conclusion of this case, Justice Manmohan and Additional Solicitor General Rajeev Mehra said senior counsel Harish Salve who had argued on behalf of Kantar yesterday had made it clear that he was only fighting the issue of cross-shareholding. In fact, Justice Manmohan said Salve repeated this point at least five times.

     

    Rohatgi had sought to reiterate the point made by Salve that the policy guidelines had been issued through an executive action without any statutory authority of law.

     

    While Rohatgi filed an affidavit today listing companies that have a holding in Kantar, he assured the Judge that the list of clients would also be place shortly on the website and filed in the court.

     

    In his order, the Judge took note of the fact that both Salve and Rohatgi have argued that the guidelines are without the sanction of any statutory body.

    Kantar had argued yesterday that any action relating to fundamental rights had to be done through an act of Parliament and not by an executive order.

    Salve had said any attempt to regulate television rating agencies was tantamount to interfering with the freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a).

     

    The provisions of Policy Guidelines for Television Rating Agencies in India that have been stayed are:
     
    1.7 The company shall comply with the following cross holdings requirements.
     
     (a) No single company/ legal entity, either directly or through its associates or inter-connected undertakings, shall have substantial equity holding in rating agencies and broadcasters/advertisers/ advertising agencies.
     
     (d) A promoter company/member of the board of directors of the rating agency cannot have stakes in any broadcaster/ advertiser/advertising agency either directly or through its associates or inter-connected undertakings.
     
    16. PROVISIONS WITH RESPECT TO EXISTING RATING AGENCIES
     
    16.1 These guidelines shall also be applicable to the existing rating agencies.
     
    16.2 No rating agency shall generate and publish ratings till such time that they comply with the provisions of these guidelines.

  • Kantar gets stay on cross-shareholding norms; TAM allowed to publish ratings

    Kantar gets stay on cross-shareholding norms; TAM allowed to publish ratings

    NEW DELHI:  Kantar Market Research Services has managed to get the relief it wanted from the Delhi High Court on the cross-shareholding norms for television rating agencies.

     

    On a petition by Kantar challenging the government’s cross-shareholding norms for TV ratings agencies, the HC has stayed the operation of four sections — 1.7a, 1.7d, 16.1 and 16.2 — that relate to cross-shareholdings and to publishing of TV viewership ratings  in the Policy Guidelines for Television Rating Agencies in India.

     

    Kantar had filed the petition as the new policy would have resulted in TAM Media Research, a company it has jointly promoted with Nielsen India, having to shut operations.

     

    The court has given TAM two weeks to register itself under all the other provisions of the policy that was recently approved by the Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs and comes into effect from 15 February.

     

    In addition, the court has also stayed the operation of a clause that prevents existing TV rating agencies from publishing viewership ratings till they company with the provisions of the policy. TAM is the only company in India providing TV viewership ratings.

     

    The Delhi High Court will hear further arguments in the case on 6 March.

     

    Meanwhile, TAM has been ordered to place on its website the list of its shareholders and also the list of its clients.

     

    The provisions of Policy Guidelines for Television Rating Agencies in India that have been stayed are:

     

    1.7 The company shall comply with the following cross holdings requirements.

     

     (a) No single company/ legal entity, either directly or through its associates or inter-connected undertakings, shall have substantial equity holding in rating agencies and broadcasters/advertisers/ advertising agencies.

     

     (d) A promoter company/member of the board of directors of the rating agency cannot have stakes in any broadcaster/ advertiser/advertising agency either directly or through its associates or inter-connected undertakings.

     

    16. PROVISIONS WITH RESPECT TO EXISTING RATING AGENCIES

     

    16.1 These guidelines shall also be applicable to the existing rating agencies.

     

    16.2 No rating agency shall generate and publish ratings till such time that they comply with the provisions of these guidelines.

     

    Click here for the updated story

  • Kantar argues TV ratings regulation requires legislative action

    Kantar argues TV ratings regulation requires legislative action

    NEW DELHI: Kantar Market Research Services, a promoter of India’s only television ratings agency TAM Media Research, said today that any action relating to fundamental rights had to be done through an act of Parliament and not by an executive order.

     

    Harish Salve, counsel for Kantar, said during the hearing on his client’s petition in the Delhi High Court against regulations for television ratings agencies that the government should have issued an ordinance and then replaced it with an act of Parliament since any attempt to regulate television ratings agencies was tantamount to interfering with the freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a). Any order curtailing fundamental rights must have statutory backing, he claimed.

     

    He said even the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India which had earlier given a report on TV ratings in 2008 and the Parliamentary Standing Committee which had considered the issue later in the same year had been of the view that the government could not tamper with the content. In any case, Salve argued that TRAI was only concerned with carriage and not content and can only make recommendations.

     

    He wondered why the Government did not act after it received the TRAI report in 2008 to push through legislation on this issue.

     

    He said the executive order under Article 73 was part of the government’s agenda to push for control of content.
     

    He said there will be a complete blackout of television viewership ratings under new government regulations since the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) was still in the planning stage.
     

    He also said that the law was in any case clear that the government was a licensor for broadcasting and not TAM which was a private rating agency. As a private agency, it could not be told not to have cross-media holding.
     

    While still not granting a stay on the regulations that come into effect from 15 February, Justice Manmohan said he will continue hearing the case tomorrow but may consider ‘interim arrangements’ if the hearing lingers on.

     

    The Judge also asked Kantar to place on its website the shareholding pattern of various shareholders in TAM since the primary objection taken by Kantar is to the reference to cross-media holding in the proposed regulations.  

     

    The three respondents Union of India, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) have filed their affidavits and will present their views tomorrow on Kantar’s petition for an interim stay. 

     

    Salve, who concluded his arguments today, said Kantar did not have any cross-holding in the broadcasting sector. He claimed that TAM was operational in 37 countries.
     

    Senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi, who also represented Kantar, said the committee that recommended BARC had itself admitted that TAM was the best rating agency in the country, and had not made any recommendations with regard to cross-media holdings.

     

    During the last hearing, the judge had wanted to know why TAM was not present itself, and Salve said that the issue of cross-media holdings mentioned in the guidelines affected Kantar which was a major shareholder and not TAM.

  • Delhi HC to further hear Kantar case tomorrow; hints at an interim arrangement

    Delhi HC to further hear Kantar case tomorrow; hints at an interim arrangement

    NEW DELHI: The deadline for implementing the TV ratings agencies policy is inching closer. But Kantar Market Research Services, a shareholder of current and only ratings agency TAM, had decided that it had to challenge the guidelines in the Delhi High Court.

     

    While still not giving it a stay order today, the court has decided that it will continue hearing the case. The next date of hearing is tomorrow. Kantar counsel today argued that the directive of the ministry on TV ratings guidelines had been done under an executive action, which can be questioned in a court of law. Counsel for Kantar also said that since the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) was still under formation, there would be a total blackout if TAM is not allowed to function.

     

    Justice Manmohan while hearing the case remarked that though he was in favour of concluding the hearing before 15 February, he would ‘consider issuing an interim arrangement if the hearing goes on longer than that date’. 15 February is when the guidelines will become effective.

     

    The three respondents Union of India, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) will present their case on Kantar’s petition for an interim stay order tomorrow. 

     

    Click here for the updated story

  • There is no Plan B for TAM if we lose our appeal in court: Kantar’s Eric Salama

    There is no Plan B for TAM if we lose our appeal in court: Kantar’s Eric Salama

    The Indian television industry is possibly heading towards a crisis of an audience ratings blackout. TAM Media Research, a joint venture between Nielsen (India) and Kantar Media Research, is currently the only agency that provides television audience viewership measurement services to advertisers and broadcasters.

     

    TAM has hit a roadblock in India with the government issuing policy guidelines for television ratings agencies in mid-January. It has an impossible deadline of mid-February to ensure that the shareholding in TAM is in accordance with the new policy guidelines.

     

    Apart from having substantial (more than 10%) stakes in TAM, the joint venture partners in the Indian television ratings provider also own advertising agencies in India, which is prohibited in the policy guidelines’ cross-holding norms.

     

    Nielsen appears to have taken a back seat and decided to let Kantar lead the challenge against the government’s new regulations and  let TAM face the situation as it develops

     

    Kantar has filed a petition in the Delhi High Court to get a stay on the shareholding norms specified in the guidelines or at least get an extension on the deadline for meeting meet the norms. There’s less than a fortnight left for TAM to comply with them, and it does not like its shareholders will be able to do so in the short time that was given to them.

     

    The launch of television audience measurement by Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), an initiative of advertisers, advertising agencies and broadcasters in India, is likely only by October this year.

     

    If Kantar fails to get some relief from the court, TAM will have to stop releasing audience ratings by mid-February which will obviously result in the absence of viewership being metered and measured till BARC is ready with its own services. And that is something which is giving both advertisers and agencies palpitations. Television audience ratings is a key input based on which advertisers base their advertising plans on.

     

    In order to understand what the situation is and what could unfold, indiantelevision.com’s Vishaka Chakrapani spoke to Eric Salama, chairman and CEO of the Kantar group since 2007. Salama has been with global advertising agency WPP, the owner of Kantar, since 1996.

     

    During the interaction, Salama rued that television ratings has become a matter of public debate and a “cricket ball” for everyone to hit. Excerpts:

     

    How different is it operating in India as compared to other countries when it comes to television ratings?

     

    We operate in most countries with the exception of Iran, Cuba and North Korea.  We’ve never had problems in India before, IMRB is the oldest research agency in Asia and we see India as a key market for us going forward.  We have some of our most talented people here.  The TV ratings market is very different to other markets in that it has become a source for public debate and a cricket ball for people to hit.

     

    How do you see TV ratings agencies progressing in India?

     

    We’ll know soon enough!

     

    Do you believe a ratings blackout is likely to happen? What could happen in such a scenario and how will the industry respond?

     

    Unless the court rules in our favour on cross ownership, we are heading for a blackout which will be extremely damaging to broadcasters, programmers, agencies, advertisers and everyone who cares for the Indian media industry.

     

    Do you think there is space for two ratings agencies to coexist?

     

    It happens in some markets such as Philippines but it’s extremely rare as the industry generally wants one currency for trading.

     

    I believe TAM has also applied to BARC for panel management in the industry-driven television ratings service. How do you see your relations with BARC taking shape?

     

    Once BARC is established, TAM will either be a supplier to them for some services or not.

     

    Should the sample size for arriving at television ratings be far bigger?

     

    If people wanted us to expand our sample to 20,000 we would.  When BARC is established it will be up to them to decide what they do.

     

    Accusations have been hurled at TAM and its credibility has been questioned. Do you think TAM has been judged wrongly?

     

    Some of the comments have been libellous. Many of them have been poorly informed.  TAM has performed extremely well for a long period in a very difficult environment and under huge pressure.

     

    What is the plan B if TAM is not allowed to function?

     

    There is no plan B.

  • Why the NBA joined the respondents battling Kantar in the courts

    Why the NBA joined the respondents battling Kantar in the courts

    MUMBAI: When Kantar Market Research Services, a shareholder of TAM media research, decided to go to court to legally oppose one of the guidelines that had been recently approved by the cabinet committee on economic affairs, it raised some eyebrows though the move was not unexpected. And even though Kantar was not given a stay  on the legality of the cross holding  legislation that it has been seeking, what came as a surprise on day two of the hearing was when the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) was made a party to the case.

     

    What made the biggest news broadcasting representative body in the country decide to intervene in the case and be subsequently made a part of it? Contrary to what many may believe, the NBA is not against Kantar but rather it is in favour of the guidelines. “We went as interveners to show our support to the approved guidelines and the court decided that we should be a part of it,” says a senior official from the NBA.

     

    The news organisation has always been vocal on the alleged  irregularities and kinks in TAM’s rating system. “We had decided a while ago that we would make a mention of our support in court. Change in the way the ratings are delivered has been pending for several years and finally the moment of truth has arrived  and so we don’t need it to be stalled again,” informed the official.

     

    In mid-2013, several news channels members of the NBA had decided to boycott TAM claiming that its TV ratings data was rigged. Voices in support of the upcoming agency the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) grew overwhelmingly. The NBA now feels that there could be no better time than now for the guidelines to come into effect.

     

    The case which is ongoing in the Delhi High Court is now being fought by the petitioner Kantar  against the government of India, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and the NBA. In media interviews Kantar has stated that it won’t go down so easily and that the cross holding guideline it has challenged will make its life and existence a misery.

     

    In the hearing on 29 January, the HC decided not to give a stay order to Kantar since the regulation was promulgated  by a statutory body – the TRAI. On the same day, the NBA pointed out that TAM operates on a small sample size of just 8,000 people. The case will next be heard on 11 February.

     

    All the three respondents have a week’s time to file their respective affidavits to the court.

     

    In October last year when the ad cap case was ongoing in the Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT), three broadcasters namely Star, Zee and Viacom18 had tried to become  interveners in support of the 12 minute ad cap regulation but they had been barred from doing so since their representative body – the Indian Broadcasting Foundation – had decided to withdraw the appeal against the ad cap. However, the NBA claims it has consistently been vocal about its views on TV viewership ratings, hence its candidature as an intervener has validity.

     

    The key questions now are whether the HC will offer a lifeline to TAM  by imposing a stay on implementation of the cross holding guideline or whether will it cut off its oxygen supply?

  • No stay order for Kantar for now: Delhi HC

    No stay order for Kantar for now: Delhi HC

    NEW DELHI: It was just a week ago that one of the shareholders of TAM – Kantar Market Research decided to move the High Court against the TV ratings guidelines. Now, as the case was taken up in the Delhi High Court today, the issue has become a little clearer.
     

    According to the HC, Kantar won’t get a stay order on the petition for now just because the deadline to make the TV ratings guidelines is effective from 15 February. However, Judge Manmohan said that Kantar’s case will be heard again on 11 February and a final decision will be taken then.
     

    Counsel for Kantar, Harish Salve argued that the stay order was necessary as the guidelines were not framed under any statute of law. Additional Solicitor General Rajeev Mehra, appearing on behalf of the Union of India, said that the guidelines had been recommended by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) which was a statutory body. The judge also remarked the same. Both Mehra and the counsel for TRAI accepted the notice and agreed to file their affidavits within time.

     

    The other big development in the case was the inclusion of the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) also coming as an intervener and joining the case as the third respondent apart from the Union of India and the TRAI. NBA counsel, A J Bhambhani pointed out that TAM only covered about 8000 homes in India, which doesn’t cover all the TV homes and thus isn’t a complete survey.
     

    Interestingly, the judge curious to know why instead of TAM approaching the court, a stakeholder Kantar has taken the step. To this, Salve said that the move was taken as Kantar is a major shareholder in TAM and the guideline related to cross holding affects Kantar and not TAM.

     

    Responding to a question posed by the judge, Salve said that TAM had nothing to gain by pushing up the TRPs. Its clients were advertisers and broadcasters and not the common viewer. Any rigs in ratings would be strongly protested against, he said. Salve also brought to the fore that regulations or guidelines need to be placed before the Parliament for approval.
     

    The case will now be heard once again on 11 February with Kantar fighting it out against the government, TRAI and the NBA.