The Prasar Bharati Board today  (06-08-2012) gave its nod in principle to exploring legal options against Television rating agency TAM for allegedly under-representing Doordarshan's viewership.

"The Prasar Bharati Board has given in-principle approval to collate facts, seek legal opinion and hold consultations with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on the issue of misrepresentation and under-reporting of data for Doordarshan by TAM," a Prasar Bharati statement said.

Official sources said the matter concerning Television Audience Measurement (TAM) ratings was discussed in detail at the Prasar Bharati Board meeting held here late in the evening.

"The TAM data completely under-represents terrestrial and rural reach of Doordarshan where the major strength of the public broadcaster lies," said Jawhar Sircar, CEO, Prasar Bharati.

Official sources told PTI that the Board felt the matter was quite serious in nature and if after further examinations it was felt that defects in the rating system had led to damages, steps should be taken to recover them.

The Board's approval comes shortly after New Delhi Television Limited (NDTV) sued TAM, a joint venture between Nielsen and Kantar Media Research, over its rating methods in a New York court.

In its Board meeting, Prasar Bharati also decided to grant phased approval to commissioned programmes for the DD Urdu channel.