TV18 writes to Trai regarding incorrect genre categorization of Republic Bharat

New Delhi: Television company TV18 Broadcast Ltd has written to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to complain against the incorrect genre categorization of the recently launched channel Republic Bharat. The Hindi news channel owned by Arnab Goswami’s ARG Outlier Asianet News, launched on 2 February, 2019, is being placed outside its declared genre, that is, Hindi news on several cable networks, TV18 says.

“We verily believe that the said channel is being deliberately and mala fide, placed outside its genre at the behest of broadcaster of “Republic Bharat” so as to enable “Republic Bharat” to illegally garner higher BARC ratings and increase viewership,” TV18 said in a statement dated 6 February, 2019. Republic Bharat recorded a reach of 73 million in its opening week according to television monitoring agency BARC (Broadcast Audience Research Council).