By IANS,
New Delhi : Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni Monday said the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) would soon appoint a technical committee for measuring target rating points (TRP) of TV channels.
Responding to questions in the Rajya Sabha, Soni said the government had set up a committee under the chairmanship of Dr. Amit Mitra, former secretary general of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, to review the existing TRP system and suggest measures for a transparent TRP.
The panel, among other things, had suggested self-regulation of TRPs through the Broadcast Audience Research Council, an industry body.
Soni added that the ministry had sent the recommendations of the Amit Mitra Committee on the TRP system to the Indian Broadcasting Federation (IBF), which had then registered BARC in July 2010.
“The ministry has been regularly reviewing the progress made by BARC towards setting up of a transparent and credible TRP measurement system in India as per the recommendations of Dr Mitra’s Committee,” Soni said.
The TRP system has been the target of much controversy with rival TV channels making claims and counter-claims. NDTV, for example, has filed a lawsuit against A.C. Nielsen and Kantar Media Research, a partner company of TAM Media Research.