Followed I&B guidelines to black out viewership data, clarifies BARC

The Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) of India says it is following the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting’s (I&B’s) guidelines while making viewership data publicly unavailable during the industry’s transition to the new tariff order mandated by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).

In a statement, the rating agency said, “Our position is also aligned to I&B guidelines that govern us. The guidelines clearly say that ‘…data generated by the rating agency be made available, on paid basis, to all interested stakeholders…’. And ‘sharing of the data/reports with a third party or in public domain be allowed subject to the fair usage policy of the rating agency. Such fair usage policy shall be provided on the website of the rating agency.’”