BENGALURU: IN a first-of-its-kind case, the Cyber Crime police have arrested five persons, including a TV serial producer, who used to illegally increase the Television Rating Point (TRP) of certain programmes, causing huge loss to advertisers.
The accused are Raju, a TV serial producer, and Suresh, Jemsy and Subhash - all residents of Bengaluru, and Madhu, a resident of Mysuru.
Police said that the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) had filed a complaint with the Cyber Crime police station in the city stating that TRP was hiked using fraudulent means, due to which the TV channels would earn a huge sum. As the ratings are fake and channels demand huge price for advertising during certain programs, the company airing advertisements suffered huge losses.
“An FIR was registered in this regard and during the course of investigation, it was found that a group of people were involved in illegally hiking the TRP by using multiple televisions and also by paying a small sum to those people in whose houses the TRP meter would be installed, and asking them to watch a particular channel at a particular time. On getting credible information, police arrested the five accused. Investigations revealed that Raju and his team were working for it. Also, this year, BARC had given a contract to a new firm to install the TRP meters. The role of staff in that firm is also being investigated,” the police said.
Further, it is also said that Raju used to approach producers of TV serials and promised them that he would get the highest rating for their serial, if he is paid good money. Remanding the arrested persons in judicial custody, the police are probing.