Opinion | Trai-BARC fracas amid disruption and new paradigm

On 24 February, the Press Trust of India first reported that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has directed Broadcast Audience Research Council (India), or BARC, to immediately release the TV viewership data for the past weeks. It said the agency, which measures and releases data on television consumption, has not complied with Trai’s previous instructions.

Basically, Trai wants BARC to publish data on its website in public interest. However, in its earlier two notes to BARC, Trai had only mentioned that the viewership measurement should not be interrupted when the transition to the new tariff order (NTO) takes place.