TV channels trapped

Television channels, especially the news channels have once again been caught in a whirlpool of controversy on account of allegedly manipulating television rating point (TRP). The TRP scam was unearthed last week after a police complaint by Hansa Research Group Pvt Ltd, the agency contracted by the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) to place audience meters to monitor TV channels watched by households. Notably, TRP is an audience intensity measurement tool which aims to identify how many viewers a particular programme on a particular TV channel is getting. The metric is calculated on a device which is attached to a few thousands TV sets selected at random at the time of manufacturing. TRP is a big deal for television channels as it is a key factor in generating revenue.