TAM to release data on December 24

In contrast to industry speculations and media reports that state deferring of the TAM data till January 9, the television measurement body has decided to release the data on December 24.

The latest update on the television measurement body's website on December 22 at 1 pm reveals, "TAM data will be released on Monday, December 24, 2012 @ around 10 am". Nevertheless, when the data is released, the news channels are expected to be aggregated under the ‘others' section, informs an industry source.

For the record, TAM was supposed to release the data on the first phase of digitisation on December 19. It, however, decided to defer the release of the 10 week television ratings data by two-three days. The decision to not release the data was taken in agreement with the IBF, AAAI and ISA.

Citing the reason behind the delay, TAM then said in a press statement, "At the request of the I&B Ministry, the Government of India, and in concurrence with IBF, AAAI and ISA, we are delaying the data release to Thursday/Friday. The reason for doing so is that the Government of India has requested us to withhold release of news channels data by two or three days. The industry is meeting with the ministry to take a decision."