I will not comment on whether Republic TV has manipulated ratings or not, but I will say that it is nothing new. TV ratings have been manipulated well before Republic TV was launched. There are about 40K active ratings meters in India covering over 80 crore people. (1/n)

On an average, one meter projects ratings for 20-21K viewers. English news is switched on in about 1.1% of homes with meters. So, only about 440-450 meters are watching English news every day. And the average time they spend is about 8 minutes per day. (2/n)

It's been revealed many times in the past that the identities of such meter (or 'panel') homes gets leaked every now and then. So, a crooked channel could go to 5 homes in a slum area, give them a brand new flat-screen TV and tell them to watch whatever they want on that TV.(3/n)

They will be paid a certain amount to watch a particular channel for many hours on their EXISTING TV to which the people meter is connected. Suddenly, a slum household which has never watched ENglish news will be watching it for 3-4 hours a day. (4/n)

Remember that an English channel is watched for just 8 minutes per head per day. Imagine what 4 meter-homes watching for even one hour will do to the ratings of an English news channel. Their TRP will go up by 6-7 times, giving them a massive advantage over others. (5/n)

So, just manipulating 4 out of 40000 meter households can completely change the fortunes of an English news channel. NDTV produced all this evidence and presented it to the industry several times. It has always been ignored and people have said it is a sore loser. (6/n)

There was no Republic TV at that time. Now if Republic is ahead, the same channels who ignored NDTV's evidence because they gained from this system, are crying foul. They are all part of this game. Please don't be fooled by their sudden enlightenment. (7/n)

At the same time, I'd say it is very difficult to manipulate Hindi news ratings by fixing the meters. Hindi news is watched in 18-20% of people-meter homes, which is close to 8,000 homes. The average time spent is also higher. To make a dent, you'd need to fix 50-60 homes (8/n)

The real question however is why certain channels do NOT get ratings even when anecdotal evidence shows they are being watched. Imagine a channel is switched off in a city for 4 days out of 7, or cable networks block its feed at prime time, or its audio is disrupted. (9/n)

Imagine that this is done ONLY in places which have a concentration of meters - let's say Dharavi in Mumbai or Shahadara in Delhi (just examples). Now, even if the channel is watched everywhere else, in crucial meter-homes it will not be watched. (10/n)

As an example let's say that in the real world, Republic Hindi is watched by 100 homes and NDTV India by 80. Total viewership = 100+80=180. Now, if NDTV India is switched off in homes with ratings-meters, its viewership will APPEAR to be 20, instead of the REAL 80. (11/n)

In the RATINGS-WORLD, the total viewership will APPEAR to be 100 (Republic Hindi)+20 (NDTV India) = 120, & the market shares will be 83% and 17%. In the REAL world however where total viewership really is 180 (100+80), the share would be Republic Bharat 55%, NDTV India 45% (12/n)

So, the small 10% viewership gap in the REAL world of REAL viewers will APPEAR to be a massive 66% gap in the RATINGS world. And all this, by getting cable operators in crucial TRP measurement zones to switch off NDTV India at peak viewership periods. (13/n)

This kind of manipulation is what needs to be really investigated, because this is not the handiwork of any channel. It is a larger game, to make it appear that people are not interested in a particular type of news. It is a great way to set media's agenda & direct it. (14/n)

That is the real issue - who is being BLOCKED and not who is being watched. Because if those who QUESTION the establishment also get ratings, then every media house will begin to ask questions as well, because it will give them ratings. This is the real game. (15/15)

Please note the date on which NDTV brought to the industry's notice that TRP's were being manipulated. It was 12 years ago. It is a matter of public record, available on the internet.

@threader_app please 'compile'