BARC’s interim forensic audit also confirmed that viewership of Republic TV was very high from the day the channel was launched, and this helped them to bargain for higher advertisement rates, say cops
Arnab Goswami
The supplementary charge sheet recently filed by the Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) of the Mumbai Crime Branch in connection with the TRP manipulation scam, suggests that Editor-In-Chief of Republic TV, Arnab Goswami, in connivance with the top management of BARC, studied its functioning to allegedly manipulate the TRP using various methods. The What’sApp messages exchanged between Goswami and former CEO of BARC, Partho Dasgupta, also suggest that Goswami allegedly planned the manipulation even before the launch of his channel.
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In one of the messages exchanged with the accused in the TRP scam, former COO of Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) Romil Ramgarhia, Goswami says, “Romil, BARC is an education for me. And in Hindi I have used it better. It is an astounding mine of information that I haven’t studied in such granular details so far.”
Responding to that, Romil said, “Yes, bigger genres like hindi news reflect extremely well on the data.” In response, Goswami said, “I agree. Our business side pressures are greater so we are implementing things faster.” “Brand is getting good traction another 2-3 months just focus on cementing the position sir - benefits will be long term ...it’s been an amazing launch - just be at it sir,” Romil has responded to Goswami.
Three different methods
The CIU of Mumbai crime branch has found three different methods used by Republic TV to manipulate the TRPs. The first method was that households where the bar-o-meters were installed by BARC to monitor TRPs, were paid by the channel. The second method was the manipulation of Logical Channel Number and landing page - in this method the channel contacted cable operators and bribed them to ensure that the channel was available on dual frequency. In the third method, in connivance with the top management of BARC, Republic ensured that the data of other channels was not entered or it was tempered to ensure it got the number one position.
The interim forensic audit conducted by BARC with the help of a third party submitted to the Mumbai Crime Branch also confirmed that the viewership of Republic TV was very high from the day the channel was launched, and this helped them to bargain for higher advertisement rates.
As per the data given in the interim forensic audit report, Republic TV, which was launched in the first week of May got a viewership of 1.86 in the first week of June, when the advertisement rate was Rs 4,045 (per 10 seconds). The viewership of CNN IBN was just 0.51 and the advertisement rate was Rs 1,526. The viewership of Zee News and India TV was 0.06 and 0.04 respectively and both the channels got advertisement rates of Rs 72,521 and Rs 72,819 respectively. In September 2017 the viewership of Republic TV was 4.53 and the advertisement rate per 10 seconds was Rs 7,000.
“Charging of such a higher rate by Republic Media Network and the fluctuation in the viewership of Republic TV as compared to others creates suspicion that it is involved in manipulating the TRPs,” the interim forensic audit report further stated.
ARG financial irregularities
According to the interim forensic audit report, on November 15, 2018, ARG outlier valued its equity shares to launch a Hindi news channel. “As per the valuation report, the equity shares were valued based on the discounted current value of the future revenues. The shares were valued at Rs 32,813.69 per share which had a face value of Rs 10, each which means the shares were valued at 3,281 times more than the face value, which it had arrived at due to the high growth in the revenues projected for five future years,” the forensic report further stated. As per the forensic audit report, the projection of revenues in 2016 was made even before the channel was launched. The revenues are projected at a growth rate which is higher than the media industry.
Excerpts from WhatsApp chats
The 3,279 pages supplementary charge sheet has chats between Goswami, and former CEO of BARC Partho Dasgupta and COO Romil Ramgariha.
>> On February 28, 2019, Goswami wrote to Partho, “Nobody has studied BARC like us. If you see my hotel room when the meeting ended at 3am yesterday it was the most extreme of BARC figures. Like 200 pages on each info.” “You become our consultant now and teach channels how to crack BARC,” Partho replied.
>> On March 19, 2019, Partho Dasgupta wrote, “Between you and me picking up sony wah slot was a masterstroke.” “I am planning to neutralise NBA (News Broadcast Association) and massively promote free dish,” Goswami wrote.
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