The Uddhav Thackeray government on Wednesday withdrew the blanket consent given by Maharashtra to the Central Bureau of Investigation to investigate cases in the state.
The CBI had registered an FIR in the TRP scam case on Tuesday based on a referral from the Uttar Pradesh Police. Republic TV, based in Mumbai, capital of Maharashtra, is one of the channels charged in the case.
The TRP case, which was previously registered at the Hazratganj Police Station in Lucknow following a complaint from a promoter of an advertising company, was handed over to the CBI by the government of Uttar Pradesh.
The alleged scam came to light when the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) rating agency filed a complaint with the police, alleging that certain channels were tampering with TRP numbers to attract advertisers.
It was alleged that some families in whose homes meters were installed to collect audience data were being bribed to tune into a particular channel.
Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh held a press conference and accused Republic TV and three other people of manipulating the PRTs.
The Mumbai Police Crime Department arrested two more people on Tuesday for allegedly tampering with the PRTs, bringing the number of arrests in the case to eight.
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The TRPs of a channel or program are used to measure the popularity of channels by advertising agencies that affect prices.
Points are calculated in India by BARC using a device installed in more than 45,000 homes across the country called “Bar-O-Meter”. The device collects data on a program or channel watched by members of these households based on weekly ratings issued by BARC.
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