I&B MINISTRY URGES BARC TO RELEASE NEWS RATINGS

I&B MINISTRY URGES BARC TO RELEASE NEWS RATINGS

Context:

On 12 January 2022, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting urged the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) to release news ratings as soon as possible.

Key Points:

• BARC is also asked to release the last three months' data. They have to put it under genre in a monthly format for fair and equitable representation of actual trends.
• The decision comes more than a year after television news broadcasts were suspended following a dispute over the TRP (television rating scam) scandal that erupted in October 2020.
• News and Niche Reporting will be a four-week rolling average concept according to the revised plan.
• The ministry also established a 'working group' under the leadership of Prasar Bharti, CEO, to consider using Return Path Data (RPD) skills to utilize TRP resources, as recommended by TRAI and the TRP Committee Report.

Joint Working Group:

• It will have Prasar Bharati CEO S S Vempati as the chairperson.
• Five members, one from BARC, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Bureau of Indian Standards, All India Digital Cable Federation, and Harit Nagpal, president of the DTH Association, will be present.

BARC

• It is a joint industry body established by organisations that represent Indian broadcasters (IBF), advertising and media agencies (AAAI), and advertisers (ISA).
• The company is based in Mumbai and was founded in 2010.