TV rating system to be improved

New Delhi: The Indian Broadcasting Federation (IBF) has set up a technical committee to study and make suggestions on improving the television rating system. The committees terms of reference are:
1) Make suggestions on any hot-to-plug leakage.
2) Set up a timeframe to change panels, especially the ones that have been identified in Mumbai and Chennai.
3) Set up dates for finalising merger of Tam and Intam.
4) Cost implications of the extra security to be built around the rating system.
5) Make changes in the definition of SEC A.
6) Revalidating the sample size.
7) Ratifying the process and the working of the rating system by an independent auditor.

The technical committee will comprise K K Kunhikrishnan of Doordarshan, Vikram Sakhuja of Star TV, Partha Pratim Sinha of Zee, Pat Vinayak of Sony Entertainment Television and Karan Grover of ESPN.

In the meantime, the earlier deliberation into the working of Tam and Intam by a committee set up by IBF under Rajesh Pant of SET is over and the findings, conclusions and inferences are quite interesting. The foremost recommendation is that despite shortcomings, Tam as well as Intam are indispensable since their ratings are the only ones that are acceptable to advertising agencies, advertisers and the broadcasters.

The committee has concluded that the present system of monitoring customer preferences at both the agencies are prone to leaks. However, the committee says the data has not been tampered with though there is a need for the same to be audited by an independent auditor before making the output public.

The committee also feels that there is a need to change the composition of SEC A homes and improve the quality of reports. The committee has, however, said that before changing the composition of SEC A homes to make them more representative, a proper investigation be allowed to be conducted into the matter by the Market Research Society of India and its recommendations taken into account.