TV news channels pull out of BARC after Republic trumps ratings

The battle between News Broadcasters Association (NBA) and Republic TV seems to be getting intense by the day. NBA comprises 23 private news broadcasters, including Times Now, India TV, India Today, CNN News18, Zee News and so on, and had complained against Arnab Goswami’s new channel to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) for broadcasting on multiple frequencies. It also wrote to Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) to put on hold the ratings for Week 19 until Republic TV stopped broadcasting on multiple frequencies.

Between May 6 and May 12, the channel had been on dual frequency on 54 cable networks across India. NBA’s contention seems to be that Republic TV‘s ratings have shot up owing to this large-scale malpractice. However, BARC, without paying much heed to NBA, released the data yesterday, which indeed shows Republic TV on the top of the charts.

In response, NBA members have decided to pull out of the ratings council since they believe BARC has put out “inflated and corrupt data” on Republic TV. In its letter, NBA says, “This [releasing of data pertaining to Republic TV] has serious implications and has caused irreversible damage to India’s existing English news TV Channels.” Newslaundry reached out NBA Secretary General Annie Joseph, but she refused to comment.