The News Broadcasters Federation (NBF) led by Republic Media Network Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami has come out in his defence, accusing the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) of arm-twisting and bullying BARC into taking action against Republic TV.

NBA had on Monday asked for the suspension of Republic TV ratings and IBF membership after the purported chats between Goswami and former BARC India CEO Partho Dasgupta came to the light.

While NBA’s demands did not come after the FIR or the on-going court case, and were specifically made on the basis of the purported WhatsApp chats submitted by Mumbai Police as proof in their chargesheet, the NBF seemed to have decided to ignore the content of the chat, which would be damaging to the industry if proven true.

Gujarati news channel ABP Asmita, from ABP Network, celebrated five years of successful operations recently. Through 24x7 local news coverage, viewer-driven content, and on-ground initiatives, ABP Asmita has acquired a premier position in the fiercely-competitive market of Gujarat. In fact, it has reached a whopping 35 Mn viewers in the Gujarat market. (Source BARC, TG- 2+, Mkt- Gujarat/DD/DN, Jan-Sep’20, Cume Reach)

Over the period of five years, the channel has created a strong resonance among the Gujarati viewers. Its innovative formats and viewer-driven content have been instrumental to the channel’s success and growth. It was the first channel to introduce a conclave in the Gujarati news genre during the Gujarat Assembly elections 2017. ABP Asmita’s memorable conclave, ‘Asmita Maha Samvaad’ is a programme that creates a platform for the incumbent government and the opposition, to shed light on the key issues of the state and address the concerns of the public.

Mumbai: Amit Sinha has joined India TV as VP Strategy & Research. Having worked for more than 15 years in the television media domain, his last assignment was with TV Today Network. His stint there was for a little more than 5 years. He was responsible for reviewing and analysing weekly numbers, providing strategic inputs, handling programming strategy and content for Tv Today group channel.

In his professional journey he has worked with Sahara News Network, Teammates Media Research & Content Communication India.

NDTV Convergence, a subsidiary of NDTV, has launched an online shopping portal called NDTV Shopping. The platform will offer products from a wide range of categories like Mobile, Electronics, Lifestyle, Home, Kitchen, and more that include products from the top brands across India.

NDTV Shopping will also search for top deals on various products to help users save big. The platform's team of reviewers will filter the best of the best products from the sea of offers.

"After months of hard work, glad to finally announce the launch of our new portal: NDTV SHOPPING. Trying to help people make informed buying decisions!!" NDTV Convergence, SVP Partnerships and Alliances, Vaibhav Sehgal, announced on LinkedIn.

Noida: With an aim to determine the mood of the people after a topsy-turvy year, ABP News, along with research partner CVoter has conducted a sentiment analysis through a special ‘Desh Ka Mood’ survey. This survey aims to provide a clearer picture of the current political climate of India and what to expect in the near future as 2021 gets underway.

The mood of the nation suggests that if elections were to be held during this time, NDA would form the government again, with 58% of the people in its favor, whereas only 28% of the people would support UPA.

The survey also revealed that PM Modi is a top choice amongst the people as the Prime Minister of India with 55% votes, whereas only 11% are in favor of Rahul Gandhi. 10% were unsure about their choice.

The Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) may extend its blackout period for news channel ratings by three more months, says a news report.

The blackout, which began in mid-October, may be extended due to the on-going TRP scam probe by the Mumbai police. The original deadline for the twelve-week suspension was Friday.

Broadcasters associations, Rajat Sharma-led NBA and Arnab Goswami-led NBF, also have opposing views about the blackout. With the suspension period ending, the NBA wants the blackout to continue while NBF wants the immediate release of the data. “Any further withholding of data beyond the initially envisaged 12 weeks is counterproductive,” said NBF.

Former BARC CEO Partho Dasgupta was admitted to JJ Hospital last night after his blood pressure and sugar levels fell while in judicial custody. Taloja jail authorities shifted Dasgupta to the hospital around 1 pm in the afternoon.

According to his wife Samrajni Dasgupta, he has been shifted to the intensive care unit at the hospital early in the morning today.

“Partho has not been responding to voice command and his speech has become incoherent. He is a blood sugar patient and has fluctuating blood pressure. We were informed just this morning about his health situation. He is critical,” she said.

New Delhi: The News Broadcasters Federation (NBF) has demanded immediate release of the audience measurement ratings of news genre by BARC. The regulator had suspended weekly data for news channels after the alleged TRP scam surfaced in October last year. 

Any further withholding of data beyond the initially stipulated 12 weeks would be “counterproductive,” stated the NBF. It also urged BARC to take corrective measures for future data. 

“News channels employ hundreds of thousands of media professionals and their livelihood depends on the revenues generated by news channel and is directly related to the audience measurement data (TRPs). Therefore, NBF calls upon the stakeholders of BARC to initiate steps to resume release of the ratings of news channels with immediate effect. We believe the data is also critical for both ISA and AAAI, the major stakeholders of the advertising fraternity,” the federation remarked in a statement.

Prothom thekei prothom, a Bengali approximation for “a leader from birth”, is the brand promise with which TV9 Network launched TV9 Bangla, 24x7 news channel from Kolkata.

TV9 Bangla is the sixth language news channel from the House of TV9 and will bring a whiff of fresh air to the Bengali news genre with its unique perspective, best-in-class facilities, state-of-art technology and top-rung journalists, just like all its language siblings — TV9 Telugu, TV9 Kannada, TV9 Marathi, TV9 Gujarati and TV9 Bharatvarsh.

With the three-month blackout period for the news genre’s ratings ending today, the Rajat Sharma-led News Broadcasters Association (NBA) has written BARC India to postpone the release of data for a few more weeks until significant and satisfactory steps are taken in order to address the concerns regarding manipulation of ratings.

BARC India had paused ratings for the news genre on October 15 for 8-12 weeks following Mumbai Police’s press conference regarding a fake TRP scam.

On the other hand, the Arnab Goswami-led News Broadcasters Federation (NBF) through a press release demanded the immediate release of the ratings and requesting the agency to take corrective measures for future data. “Any further withholding of data beyond the initially envisaged 12 weeks is counterproductive,” NBF said.