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In a dramatic development the ratings agency BARC (Broadcast Audience Research Council) has decided to pause weekly ratings for news channels for three months as it reviews its system amid the row over alleged rigging of viewership ratings by three channels.
This action amidst the TRP scam where Republic TV is among the three channels being investigated by Mumbai Police for allegedly fudging ratings by bribing households to watch the said channel . The two others are local channels in Maharashtra called Fakt Marathi and Box Cinema.
The suspension of ratings applies to all English, Hindi, regional and business news channels.”… starting with the ‘News Genre’, BARC will cease publishing the weekly individual ratings for all news channels during the exercise. This exercise is expected to take around 8-12 weeks including validation and testing under the supervision of BARCs Tech Comm.
BARC will continue to release weekly audience estimates for the genre of news by state and language,” BARC said in a statement .
