Mumbai police arrested two TV channel owners, while the directors and promoters of the third channel, Republic TV, will be investigated for alleged tampering with TV rating points or TRP.
“The arrested defendants are owners of the Fakt Marathi and Box Cinema channels, while the directors and promoters of Republic TV have not yet been questioned. We will call some of the Republic television station employees to ask questions, ”said Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh.
Police jumped into action after rating agency Hansa Services Private Limited, a BARC contractor, which operates under the Ministry of Broadcasting and Information (MIB) and the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) filed a complaint.
The complainant company claimed that it boosts the Rs 32 billion Indian television advertising industry by providing clear information on TV channels. It has installed approximately 30,000 barometers in various parts of India that monitor various programs and channels. Based on statistical metrics, BARC gives ratings to various television channels and advertisers pay for channels at rates set based on the ratings.
TRP’s rigged ratings result in a miscalculated target audience for advertisers, the firm said, adding that this results in losses of hundreds of crore due to TRP’s rigged stats.
The Hansa investigation group found tampering with the PRT and approached the Mumbai police. Following his complaint, Mumbai police arrested a former Hansa employee and recovered Rs 20 lakh cash from his residence. The police also arrested his partner and recovered Rs 8 lakh in cash from his residence.
During the investigation they revealed that they were paid through certain channels to distribute money to homes, where barometers were installed, to keep the English channel on throughout the day.
Later, the police questioned some of the households and learned that they were paid between Rs 400-500 a month to keep the canal on. In some places, police found people unfamiliar with English watching televisions with the English channel on, Singh said.
“During the investigation, we also found that one of the arrested defendants and some of the wanted defendants were employees of Hansa and had misused confidential information with them. It appears to have been done for illicit profit for certain television channels, resulting in an illicit loss for advertisers and ad agencies, “Singh added.
Preliminary investigations also revealed that these defendants have tampered with the sampling measurement services by inducing barometer users by periodically paying them to view certain television channels. Many of the people in whose homes these barometers have been installed have accepted that they have been monetarily beneficial in keeping their televisions on even if they didn’t actually watch them.
The case has been registered at the Kandivali police station for breach of trust and cheating against the accused. They were arrested and presented to the court and sent to police custody until October 9.
Republic TV, however, issued a statement saying: “Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh has made false accusations against Republic TV because we questioned him in the investigation of the Sushant Singh Rajput case.”
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