Centre forms committee to assess existing TRP system of TV channels; Head – Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi S Vempati

Centre forms committee to assess existing TRP system of TV channels; Head – Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi S Vempati

• The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has constituted a four-member committee, on 4 November 2020, to assess the existing Television Rating Points (TRP) of TV channels.
• The committee will be chaired by Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi S Vempati.
• The committee will be responsible to address the ‘needs of the stakeholders’ and make necessary recommendations for a rating system which shall be ‘robust, transparent and accountable’.
• It will have to submit its report to the Information and Broadcasting minister within two months.
• The need to form such committee was felt after the alleged TRP scam in which it was alleged that certain TV channels manipulated TRPs in return for payment.
• TRP is calculated in India by the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) using a device called Bar-O-Meter, which is installed in over 45,000 households across the country. The device collects data about a programme or channel watched by members of these households on the basis of which weekly ratings are issued by BARC.