Consent agreement reached for standard TV ratings service
Susan M. Hutton and Martin Lapner
On June 23, 2006, the Competition Bureau filed a consent agreement with the Competition Tribunal regarding the BBM Canada-Nielsen Media Research Limited merger. The consent agreement resolves potential competition issues arising from the merger of the electronic television audience measurement (TAM) operations of both companies. Despite the consolidation of TAM data collection in Canada, the Bureau observed that the development of a standard TAM system had widespread support in the industry, that the merger would likely result in decreased costs to purchasers, and that both parties could still competitively market proprietary analytic tools to be used on the data collected by the merged company. Beyond these benefits, the consent agreement allows for independent audits to be conducted on the merged company in order to monitor the provision of quality services to purchasers. The consent agreement is interesting in that it would appear to embody a flexible and pragmatic approach by the Bureau to mergers involving significant efficiencies - even while the law on efficiencies remains in disarray.
