MUMBAI: The switchover to the single unified ratings system is taking longer than envisaged. The process of installation of a total of 4,800 peoplemeters is now expected to be completed between the middle and end of January.

Once these 4,800 peoplemeters have been installed all urban centres with a population of over 100,000 will be effectively covered, TAM Media president LV Krishnan informed indiantelevision.com. Krishnan added that there would be a further 200 meters kept as standby in case replacements were required.

The details of what is expected to be achieved have been presented by TAM in a report titled "India Peoplemeter Update II" that was readied on 20 October. According to Krishnan, the joint industry body (JIB) that constitutes agencies, advertisers and broadcasters and chaired by Unilever's BV Pradeep had already vetted the report.

The update is the second such report to be released, the first of which was out in April.

To increase the sample width, Rajasthan and Bihar (formerly not part of it) have now been included among the areas covered. However, the troubled state of Jammu and Kashmir, Assam and the north-east still remain out of the sample.

As far as the big cities go, it is Mumbai that will have the highest number of meters with 450 (earlier 312) followed by Delhi with 425 (355 before). Kolkata will have 265, while Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad will all 255 each.

The new "single currency" for television ratings is a result of the merger of the ratings of ORG MARG's Intam with that of IMRB's Tam. This process was initiated in October 2001 when a new venture was floated to combine the local TV ratings from TAM Media Research (a 50:50 joint venture between AC Nielsen and Kantar Media research combined with IMRB) with data from ORG -Marg, in a single service across India.