Mumbai city police chief Param Bir Singh on Thursday claimed to have busted a racket to manipulate TRPs and arrested two persons. TRP (television rating point) is a tool to judge which TV programs and channels are viewed the most.

"As in all our previous cases of suspected panel homes intrusions, BARC India continues to follow its established vigilance and disciplinary guidelines...BARC India appreciates the efforts of the Mumbai Police and will provide the support asked of it," a BARC India spokesperson said. The body added that it remains "steadfastly true" to its purpose to accurately and faithfully report "what India watches".

In a statement, the city police said BARC functions under the union ministry of information and broadcasting and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, and it has installed 30,000 barometers in homes to monitor TV consumption and come out with the TRP numbers. It is based on these TRPs that marketers place advertisements and manipulation of the numbers may have resulted in losses, the police said.

To discuss this, Shereen Bhan spoke to Anant Rangaswami, media commentator; R Balki, filmmaker & ad guru; Rajiv Bajaj, managing director of Bajaj Auto and Subhash Kamath, chairman of ASCI.

(Edited by : Jomy)

First Published:Oct 8, 2020 8:57 PM IST