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2013 (4) TMI 623 - Commission - Companies LawUnfair trade practice –u/s 19 (1) (a) – consideration of relevant market - informant alleged that the OP was a sole and dominant television viewership measurement firm in India and it has abused its position with respect to measurement of viewership in contravention of the provisions of section 4 - The Informant also alleged that as a result great financial loss occurred to him and it also affects its reputation. The acts of the OP were not only abusive but also adversely affected competition and were in contravention of the provisions of the Competition Act. Held that - The relevant market for the case is required to be determined keeping in view the provisions of section 2 (r), (s) and (t) read with section 19 (5), (6) and (7) of the Act. The relevant market in the instant case would be a service market of 'popularity evaluation of T.V. Programmes'. Popularity of a programme is directly related to the advertisement revenue a broadcaster can generate from the programme. T.V. Programmes popularity rating, on a commercial basis, is being done mainly by the OP and, prima facie, the OP appears to be a dominant player in the above mentioned relevant market. It is a well-known fact that the taste of programmes differ in urban and rural areas. Thus, installation of people meters only in urban areas can not reflect viewers choice PAN India. The OP had limited its surveys and viewers measurement only to the larger cities with a population of one lakh or more. The rural viewership was completely ignored. Therefore, it is apparent that OP was not displaying the true picture regarding TVR/TRP of Doordarshan. whether there was abuse of dominant position by OP. – held that - Section 4 of the Competition Act provides that there shall be an abuse of a dominant position, if an enterprise directly and indirectly discriminates in providing services to the customers or indulges in practice resulting in denial of market access in any manner to a customer. Due to the discrimination between rural and urban viewers and basing TRP only on the basis of urban viewers, the OP was prima facie indulging in practice of denial of advertisement market. Thus, the Commission is of the opinion that there was sufficient material to refer the case to the DG to cause an investigation u/s 26(1).
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