Four people were arrested, including the owners of Box Channel and Fakt Marathi.
Bombay:
After Mumbai Police announced an investigation against Republic TV and two other channels for audience manipulation, a man whose house had a “people counter” to verify audience revealed he received monthly payments to watch certain channels.
The man, one of three witnesses who police say were corrupted by the chains, also said he was told the meter in his home would take care of his bills and automatically top up his DTH platform.
“The manager of Bar-o-meter told me to watch Box Cinema (one of the three channels under investigation). He said I should watch the channel from 2pm to 4pm and I would be paid Rs 500 “said the viewer. GalacticGaming.
He said he had been doing it for two to three years and never realized it could be tied to TRPs or TV rating points.
He stopped when he had to go to his village. “I was away and my television was off. I told them I was no longer watching television,” he said.
Four people were arrested, including the owners of Box Channel and Fakt Marathi. They were taken into custody today.
Republic TV directors and promoters are under investigation, according to Mumbai Police Chief Param Bir Singh.
“People counters” attached to televisions measure ratings. In Mumbai, there are 2,000 households that have these meters installed in order to assess the audience of the different channels.
The information taken from these counters is believed to be secret.
The BARC (Broadcast Audience Research Council) rating agency called on the private agency Hansa to install the meters.
The Mumbai police chief said Hansa complained about the rigging of television hearings. The data was found to be shared with media companies, who allegedly bribed households to keep their channels even when they weren’t watching them.
Mr Singh said BARC as well as Hansa shared evidence that the channels bribed some households in order to boost ratings.
Republic TV strongly refuted the allegations and accused the Mumbai police of blood feuds because they raised questions about the Sushant Singh Rajput investigation.
“The complaint was lodged by the independent Hansa agency, not by us. Suspicious trends were noticed by them, not by us. They noticed suspicious audience trends or certain channels. They shared details of the deviations, “the police chief told GalacticGaming.
“We called three witnesses who received money to watch a particular channel,” he said.
The first Mumbai police briefing report also names India Today, but Mr. Singh told GalacticGaming: “In the FIR, India Today was named by one of the witnesses. But as the The investigation was progressing, neither BARC, nor witnesses, nor accused named India Today. All named Republic TV, Marathi channels. For the moment, no evidence against India Today. We are prosecuting against Republic TV, Marathi channels. “
Arnab Goswami of Republic TV said there was “not a single BARC report that mentioned Republic TV”. “The Indian people know the truth. BARC has not mentioned the republic in any complaint,” he added.
