In a press conference held on Thursday, Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh told reporters that the city police are probing a scam involving manipulation of TRPs. He identified three channels, namely Fakt Marathi, Box Cinema, and Republic-TV which the police commissioner said are involved in distorting the apparatus used by BARC to rate television channels.
Watch | "Mumbai Police has been alerted about a new racket involving false TRP": Paramvir Singh, Mumbai Police Commissioner briefs media pic.twitter.com/GM5RYpvFMX
— NDTV (@ndtv) October 8, 2020
The TRP is calculated on the basis of TV channel viewership in a confidential set of households. As per the commissioner, the accused would bribe these households and ask them to run some channels continuously even if they were not home. The BARC (Broadcast Audience Research Council) releases weekly rating points for TV channels in India and its own officials are also being questioned in connection with the case.
In a statement issued later on Thursday, BARC said, “As in all our previous cases of suspected panel homes intrusions, BARC India continues to follow its established vigilance and disciplinary guidelines. BARC remains steadfastly true to its purpose to accurately and faithfully report ‘What India Watches’. BARC India appreciates the efforts of the Mumbai Police and will provide the support asked of it.”
Replying Back , Arnab Goswami come up with a statement
Here is the full statement :
“The Mumbai Police Commissioner has been completely and totally exposed. A copy of the FIR in the TRP case mentions India Today as the channel to be investigated. In fact, India Today has been mentioned multiple times in the FIR. There is not a single mention of Republic TV. Now, the main witness in the case has also gone on record and named India Today as the English channel for which financial compensation was allegedly provided to gain viewership. The complaint against India Today was made on October 6. Param Bir Singh closes the investigation against India Today within 16 hours and does a press conference against Republic TV. Now, that the FIR is out and the critical witness is on record, and the Mumbai Police Commissioner has been caught red-handed. He must, in the interest of morality, quit.”
#RepublicFightsBack The Mumbai Police Commissioner has been completely & totally exposed. A copy of the FIR in the TRP case mentions India Today as the channel to be investigated. There isn't a single mention of Republic TV. Param Bir Singh must, in the interest of morality, quit pic.twitter.com/th6ccyJxlr
— Republic (@republic) October 8, 2020
