Amid TRP ‘scam’, ratings for news channels halted for now

Television viewership monitoring agency Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) on Thursday said it will not publish weekly data for news channels for 8-12 weeks as it seeks to review and improve the current standards of measuring and reporting data.

The exercise will be carried out for all niche genres to improve statistical robustness and impede any attempt to infiltrate the panel homes.

Ratings for Hindi, regional and English news, and business news channels will be stopped, with immediate effect.

The move comes after Mumbai Police unearthed a television rating points (TRP) scam, in which Republic TV, Fakt Marathi, and Box Cinema were accused of manipulating viewership data by bribing homes where measurement metres were installed.