New Delhi: Three channels including Republic TV are being investigated for manipulating Television Rating Points, or TRP, Mumbai police said Thursday.
Addressing a press conference, Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh said the channels bribed households to keep a particular channel switched on to boost their TRP.
Two people have been arrested and they will be in police custody till 9 October, Singh said.
The channel heads of the Marathi channels — Fakt Marathi and Box Cinema — have also been arrested under sections 409 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Singh informed.
Singh said that the investigation is underway and the owners and directors of all the channels will be questioned, including Republic TV’s Arnab Goswami.
Also read: Stop showing Arnab Goswami’s Republic TV, it ‘insulted’ Uddhav — Sena tells cable operators
Channels bribed households
According to the Mumbai Police, Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) engaged a firm called Hansa to install barometers in households of consumers to record their viewing, based on which TRPs are calculated. Advertising rates for particular channels are determined as per their TRPs.
“During investigation we found that some employees of Hansa were compromising this data. They were sharing this with television channels and some households were being paid to keep a particular channel on to drive up its TRP, irrespective of whether they are watching it…As per the analytical report that the BARC has submitted, suspicious trends can be seen in case of Republic TV,” he said.
The Mumbai Police Crime Branch has also questioned several customers who allegedly received money to watch certain channels and has recorded their statements.
Singh said, “Even a minor manipulation can impact advertising revenue by hundreds of crores…We will see if the advertising revenue obtained through such manipulation is to be tested as ‘proceeds of crime.’ We will also question the advertisers through whom such revenue has been obtained, and if these are indeed proceeds of crime we may even seize the amount and freeze accounts.”
“Households whose data was being manipulated were asked to keep the particular channels on whether they watch it or not. We have also seen that in the houses of people who are illiterate, English channels kept running. This will be considered proceeds of cheating,” Singh said.
‘False accusations’, says Republic TV
Republic Media Network’s Editor-in-Chief Arrnab Goswami issued a statement accusing the Mumbai Police chief of making “false allegations”, and said the channel will file a criminal defamation case against Mumbai Police commissioner.
Republic Media Network's Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami's statement pic.twitter.com/axhbJZ47eA
— Republic (@republic) October 8, 2020
“There is not a single BARC report that mentions Republic TV,” the statement said. “Param Bir Singh stands completely exposed today, since BARC has not mentioned Republic in any single complaint.”
Also read: Don’t know how to take a U-turn? Learn from TV channels on Rhea Chakraborty and Hathras cases
He must be tried in court for spreading communal tension and arnab goswami has sold his channel to bjp
The Print’s villan is: Arnab & Republic Tv for speaking the truth & exposing corruption & crime.
The Print’s heroes are:
Rhea for drugs.
Deepika for maal hai kya.
Shyoraj Jivan Vaalmiki for instigating communal riots in Hathras.
The criminals who created the Shaheen Baug monster and Delhi riots.
Killers of Palghar sadhus.
Our heart bleeds for India.
republic tv and other pro bjp channels and their owners must be sacked immediately. the world is suffering from hate and misinformation provided through some fixed and biased news channels. otherwise , this world and our society is not as much worse as it is shown on daily 9 pm prime time news channels and in some print media.
Republic TV is one of the few channels that speaks the truth. Is it a surprise that it is being targeted by the corrupt state Govt and state police?
These corrupt folk drunk on their power would do well to be cognisant of the fact that today Arnab Goswami is a bigger star than even Shahrukh Khan and he is powerful enough to bring down corrupt politicians and incompetent public officials.
We stand with Arnab.
Arnab is a joker and bjp spokesman