31-sec lock: Chargesheet on how channels, cable operators fixed TRPs

In its chargesheet filed in the TRP scam, the Mumbai police have said that some cable operators had been asked to lock certain channels for 31 seconds so that viewers would not be able to change channels for that duration, thus contributing to television rating points for channels.

According to norms for calculating TRPs, a viewer has to spend over 30 seconds watching a particular channel for it to be awarded a rating point.

Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Vaze from the Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU), involved in preparing the 1,400-page chargesheet filed on Tuesday, told The Indian Express, “Some cable operators had been told to lock Republic for 31 seconds. So if you were surfing channels, you would get stuck on this channel for 31 seconds. This would count as a TRP for the channel.”