Arnab Goswami studied how BARC works, to ‘manipulate’ TRP

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 EditorInChief 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 WhatrsquosApp 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 channelIn one of the messages exchanged with the accused in the TRP scam former COO of Broadcast Audience Research Council BARC Romil Ramgarhia Goswami says ldquoRomil BARC is an education for me And in Hindi I have used it better It is an astounding mine of information that I havenrsquot studied in such granular details so farrdquoResponding to that Romil said ldquoYes bigger genres like hindi news reflect extremely well on the datardquo In response Goswami said ldquoI agree Our business side pressures are greater so we are implementing things fasterrdquoldquoBrand is getting good traction another 23 months just focus on cementing the position sir benefits will be long term itrsquos been an amazing launch just be at it sirrdquo Romil has responded to GoswamiThree different methodsThe 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 barometers 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 positionThe 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 ratesAs 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 186 in the first week of June when the advertisement rate was Rs 4045 per 10 seconds The viewership of CNN IBN was just 051 and the advertisement rate was Rs 1526 The viewership of Zee News and India TV was 006 and 004 respectively and both the channels got advertisement rates of Rs 72521 and Rs 72819 respectively In September 2017 the viewership of Republic TV was 453 and the advertisement rate per 10 seconds was Rs 7000ldquoCharging 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 TRPsrdquo the interim forensic audit report further statedARG financial irregularitiesAccording to the interim forensic audit report on November 15 2018 ARG outlier valued its equity shares to launch a Hindi news channel ldquoAs 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 3281369 per share which had a face value of Rs 10 each which means the shares were valued at 3281 times more than the face value which it had arrived at due to the high growth in the revenues projected for five future yearsrdquo 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 industryExcerpts from WhatsApp chatsThe 3279 pages supplementary charge sheet has chats between Goswami and former CEO of BARC Partho Dasgupta and COO Romil Ramgarihagtgt On February 28 2019 Goswami wrote to Partho ldquoNobody 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 infordquo ldquoYou become our consultant now and teach channels how to crack BARCrdquo Partho repliedgtgt On March 19 2019 Partho Dasgupta wrote ldquoBetween you and me picking up sony wah slot was a masterstrokerdquo ldquoI am planning to neutralise NBA News Broadcast Association and massively promote free dishrdquo Goswami wrote