New Delhi: Airtel has denied allegations that it sold viewership data to select TV news channels and that the company was acting as a rating agency without obtaining relevant licenses, terming the claims “factually incorrect and unfounded”.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had in March sent a show-cause notice to Airtel, citing a news report that claimed that the organisation was “selling viewership data collected through rapid path data from its Airtel Xstream subscribers”.
A few broadcast networks had allegedly cited user data by Airtel to claim a hike in their popularity among viewers.
The task of accumulating data to determine the rankings of TV news channels in different time slots is carried out by various licensed agencies, including the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC).
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DTH service providers and value-added services
The I&B Ministry’s show-cause notice to Airtel cited the ‘Policy Guidelines for Television Agencies in India” to seek a response from the company.
Article 10 of the policy guidelines says: “DTH facility shall not be used for other modes of communication, including voice, fax, data, communication, internet, etc. unless a specific licence for these value-added services has been obtained from the competent authority”.
These guidelines further underline how DTH service providers cannot offer a “value-added service” in lieu of a subscription fee. According to the ministry concerned, selling user data to any third party — similar to what BARC does — is a value-added service that requires prior permission.
It has also been pointed out that the guidelines empower the government to “cancel the registration” of organisations that fail to comply with or follow due process in this regard. The same could even attract a hefty fine.
It is also mandatory for companies seeking a licence to procure security clearances via the Ministry of Home Affairs (MJA).
‘Airtel not in violation of guidelines’
In a letter to the information and broadcasting ministry, the cellular network giant claimed that data shared with its client falls under the ambit of user insights and cannot be termed an “aggregated service”, which would mean that Airtel is in compliance with all regulations.
“Data shared by Airtel is merely an insight of the user behaviour derived on the basis of certain aggregated data of select Airtel XStream households and not TV rating at all,” the letter said.
A spokesperson for Airtel told ThePrint that the allegations levelled against the company are based on “rumours”.
“We strongly deny these baseless rumours. Airtel does not share any user data, nor does it offer any rating services to broadcasters. Consistent with standard industry norms, including the OTT segment, Airtel is merely offering anonymised and aggregated insights from households using its Airtel Xstream Android TV Box,” the spokesperson said.
Airtel went further to state that a number of OTT platforms offer user data and insights across “geographies and age groups”. It is known that many platforms conduct studies on user behaviour by measuring viewership on different platforms, the spokesperson said, adding that this helps platforms not only plan for the future but also assess responses to their products.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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