The government on Wednesday constituted a four-member committee to study different aspects of the television rating system in India “as they have evolved over a period of time”. Prasar Bharti CEO Shashi V. Vempati will be the chairman of the new committee.
Dr Shalabh, Professor of Statistics, IIT Kanpur; Dr Rajkumar Upadhyay, executive director, C-DOT and Professor Pulak Ghosh, Decision Sciences, Centre for Public Policy (CPP) are the other members of the panel.
“The Committee shall carry out an appraisal of the existing system, examine TRAI recommendations notified from time to time, overall industry scenario and addressing the needs of the stakeholders and make recommendations for robust, transparent and accountable rating system through changes, if any, in the existing guidelines,” said a circular issued by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
It said: “Based on the operation of the guidelines for a few years, there is need to have a fresh look on the guidelines particularly keeping in view the recent recommendations of Telecom Regulatory Authority of lndia (TRAI), technological advancements I interventions to address the system and further strengthening of the procedures for a credible and transparent rating system, a Committee is hereby constituted to study different aspects of the television rating system in India as they have evolved over a period of time.”
The Centre's move comes following a row over an alleged TRP scam. The Mumbai Police recently claimed to have busted the Television Rating Points (TRP) scam and arrested at least five people, including news channel employees, in this connection.
As the controversy surrounding the alleged scam grew, the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), which provides TRP data, announced a temporary suspension of weekly ratings of news channels across languages.
