Republic TV and 2 others on Target after Mumbai Police Arrests 2 TV Channel Owners for "TRP Scam".

"TRP Scam has been busted" said The Mumbai Police, in regard to Television Rating Points (TRP) being manipulated. The police has arrested two such channel owners in this regard.

In a press conference, Mumbai Police DGP, Parambir Singh, said that ratings by BARC, an organisation under the Ministry of Information and Broadcast (I&B) had been manipulated.

The police further said that ads earned by channels using these spiked TRPs will be considered as proceeds of crime.

The police said that an organisation named Hansa Research Group Private Limited, which had entrusted the BARC with confidential data related to ratings, had misused the data.

They further said that sample houses, where barometers had been installed to monitor ratings, were paid to watch certain TV channels. Consumers were even asked to keep their TV sets on, switched on to a certain channel, even while they were not watching.

They also named Republic TV and two other channels who have allegedly been involved in this malpractice.

Republic TV's Response to Allegations

Responding to allegations of manipulation, Republic TV accused the DGP of defamation and said that the channel was being targetted for questioning the Mumbai Police in the death probe of actor Sushant Singh Rajput.

Republic Media Network's Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami's statement pic.twitter.com/axhbJZ47eA

— Republic (@republic) October 8, 2020