Government Wants to Know What You Watch on TV! MIB Proposes Installation of Chip in DTH boxes
The ministry has sought that all direct-to-home (DTH) operators should install a chip to record data about channels watched and their duration.
To make the measurement process of viewership better, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has proposed of an in-built chip to set-to boxes (STBs). As reported by The Asian Age, the ministry has sought that all direct-to-home (DTH) operators should install a chip to record data about channels watched and their duration. The MIB has made this recommendation to the regulatory body Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).
The proposal to monitor patterns, sent to TRAI for its comments has been mooted as the ministry is circumspect about the viewership data collated by Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) – a television audience measurement agency. According to an unidentified official, the ministry wants to use set-top box with a chip as it feels BARC almost functions like a monopoly. The official said, “There are no alternatives (to BARC). It also doesn’t reveal how it arrives at the figures, the methodology applied, or the area surveyed.” He added that the ministry discussed the possibility of procuring about 300 people meters and randomly installing them to verify the veracity of BARC data but found the number too small to meaningfully compare and verify data.
The official said, “The I&B ministry feels that viewership figures for every channel will be more authentic through this method. This will help advertisers as well as Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP) to spend their advertising expenditure wisely and only those channels which are widely watched will get promoted.” Another reason behind the proposal is that the ministry feels the viewership of Doordarshan is under reported and the new tool will help DD get a boost.
BARC said in a statement, “We operate within the regulatory framework as mandated by the ministry guidelines. We also meet regularly with officials of the ministry and TRAI to brief them and provide status report on our operations.” BARC further said its data collection and reporting methodology was arrived at post consultations and consensus with I&B ministry and TRAI and the detailed methodology was available on their website.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 15, 2018 12:24 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).