The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has asked the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) not to resume TV ratings for the news genre until the ministry concludes the examination of the report on the matter submitted by a committee.
The government's letter to BARC on maintaining the "status quo" came days after News Broadcasters Federation (NBF) had approached Minister Prakash Javadekar, seeking his intervention in resuming the data, adding that the complete absence of ratings has destroyed the economy of news channels. NBF is an industry body comprising mainly regional and a few national channels.
A report in exchange4media quoted the letter, dated February 15, in which MIB under-secretary P Nagarajan wrote that the MIB constituted a committee on February 4 under the chairmanship of Shashi Shekhar Vempati, CEO, Prasar Bharati, to examine the shortages of existing TRP system and propose technological advancements and interventions for strengthening the procedures for a robust, credible and transparent rating system. The letter also mentioned that the committee has submitted its report, which is being examined, and, as such, BARC is directed to maintain the status quo until MIB examines the report.
A few days ago, in the letter to MIB, NBF had stated that data measurement was "the lifeline of our broadcast industry", and that "shutting it down is not the solution". The NBF also wrote that improvements can only happen while the data flow is continuous, stated the exchange4media report.
However, News Broadcasters Association (NBA), the body that includes all leading national news channels, has not yet sought the release of data. Instead, it has written to BARC asking about the “cleansing processes” that it was supposed to take up in the three months of the blackout period.
The NBA board added that releasing the corrupt data for months together has not only dented the reputation but has also led to huge financial losses for news broadcasters. The board sought an explanation from BARC for this. In the report, exchange4media stated that it reached out to BARC for comments, but did not receive a response.
BARC has stalled the TV ratings for the news genre on October 15 for a period of eight to 12 weeks after the Mumbai police held a press meet to address the TRP scam.
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