Tag: BARC

3 Reasons why news industry is miffed with BARC

NEW DELHI: The recent TRP manipulation scam has reopened old wounds that news channels and Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) had been mending. The genre had never been absolutely satisfied with how the authority is measuring ratings and the recent sequence of events has once again brought the matter to the fore. At the recently concluded News Television Summit hosted by Indiantelevision.com, several speakers from the news world pointed out the errors that they feel BARC is making in measuring news TRPs. Here is a comprehensive overview:

1. Incorrect Sample Size

Zee News CEO and editor-in-chief Sudhir Chaudhary pointed out, “I think the main problem with BARC ratings is that the sample size is so small. Statistically speaking, we are a 32,000 crore industry and BARC has its meter in just 44,000 homes. As we traditionally say that of the overall sample size only 10 per cent watch news, we are left with just 4,400 boxes, which is very less for a huge market like India.”

2. Incorrect Data Points

ABP News Network CEO Avinash Pandey, who has been an open critic of the BARC measurement systems, stated that he’s against the minute-by-minute stock market-like analysis of news shows, where BARC points out at what precise moment the TRP took a jump. According to him, this is prompting all the news channels to run a similar sort of programming and picking up a similar tone with its stories. He said, “Until and unless BARC effectively manages the impact of news, and not just the number of people watching the channel for a certain time, unfortunately, we all will be in the rat race of chasing the ratings and it will destroy our businesses, people’s lives, and our country.”

3. Improvement Needed in the Backend

Times Network MD & CEO MK Anand stated, “From what I’ve seen in the last four years, fixing the back-end of the measurement mechanism is required. BARC CEO Sunil Lulla has been trying to bring a lot of sense to the process. He has been continuously improving it. But whether it is inside BARC or outside, there are people who break ranks and resort to corrupt means. We have seen them use shortcuts to get to the numbers and that is not acceptable.”

According to the industry, these drawbacks have also degraded the quality of programmes that news channels are running these days. They highlighted that the blind contest for maximum TRPs has prompted news outlets to run similar shows with little to no differentiation, which in turn is harming the industry as a whole.

While BARC under Sunil Lulla is making strides in streamlining the measurement process for the better, there are still loopholes that need to be filled.

November 3, 2020
Those who flaunted BARC ratings are questioning it now: TV9’s Barun Das

NEW DELHI: TV9 CEO Barun Das says he feels like an outcast. While he’s unsure whether BARC’s decision to hit the pause button on TRP for news channels will prove to be good or bad in the long run, he thinks singling out the news business in this way is cause for concern.

“When I find that only the news television ratings has been suspended, that makes me feel that I’m standing with a bunch of people who are possibly suspicious. I don’t think there’s something wrong with the industry per se, a few unscrupulous acts may happen here and there. But if it were my decision, I wouldn’t have cast the entire industry in the light of suspicion,” he said during a virtual foresight session with indiantelevision.com founder, CEO and editor-in-chief Anil Wanvari at the News Television Awards Summit 2020.

He has complete confidence in the BARC and points out what he perceives to be the double standards in the industry: “BARC rating was flaunted by those who are now questioning it. It is uncanny… that people complain against the currency only when they are victimised, otherwise it’s all hunky-dory. You have got to have a standard that is consistent.”

At the same time, Das recommends strict action against any person or organisation who is found to be running afoul of the system. “Any malpractice or tampering from a news player should attract capital punishment. It should be zero tolerance,” he asserts.

The investigation into the TRP racket, be it by law enforcement agencies or BARC’s own internal probe, will not just affect the news industry but also have larger ramifications on the society as a whole, believes Das. “So when people speak of ‘intervention’ or ‘malpractice’, we need to be extra cautious because we have the responsibility of forming the country’s opinions.”

Read our coverage of the NT Awards 2020

So what should BARC do to plug the gaps in its system? The TV9 CEO has some ideas.

“Why not have a technical cut-off? Instead of out-casting one genre, say that below a certain figure, the sample or statistical methods have larger margins of error so these other genres which fall below this number would also be suspended. Checks and balances need to be built in to make the system fool-proof.”

Das also admits that he has radical views when it comes to the advertising-driven business model that presently holds sway over most of the news industry. Without taking names, he highlights the hazards of aping content that seems to be doing well in terms of ratings, without analysing the long-term consequences of pandering to the masses.

He illustrates with an analogy: “Let’s say the currency that we have says that consumers are enjoying circus on a news channel during primetime. In a free society, whatever the consumer is expecting you tend to give that more in your content. By the end of the year, you’ll see almost all the channels are showing circus on primetime and viewers who didn’t like it have no choice but to watch circus too. And they would eventually start liking the circus. That’s the risk the country faces by going wrong in our ratings.”

Das is of the view that news channels should have a model that is fully subscription-based; an advertising-driven news operation is an oxymoron and there is something fundamentally wrong with that system. “If somebody is a large advertiser of mine, how much will I expose him if there’s something going wrong at his end?” he quips.

But the winds of change are slowly but surely coming. In the West, newer formats of news commentary and engagement are coming up where influencers and multi-channel digital networks are challenging the legacy players. And it's only a matter of time before this catches on in India too. Wanvari asks Das what he predicts will happen to the traditional broadcast industry in such a scenario.

“The convergence of news originator and consumer will be brought in by the digital world, I’ve said this before. The broadcast sector will give way to digital platforms. The latter lacks intervention at the moment but it’s on auto-correct mode. But organised players will always be there. They will seamlessly transform themselves from a traditional TV business to more digital news content business,” he said.

November 3, 2020
Indian news industry needs mid-course correction: Zee News’ Sudhir Chaudhary

NEW DELHI:, Zee News CEO and editor-in-chief Sudhir Chaudhary expressed his discontent towards BARC ratings and the news channels flaunting them on a weekly basis during a virtual fireside chat with Indiantelevision.com founder, CEO, and editor-in-chief Anil Wanvari on the concluding day of News Television Awards Summit 2020.

“I think the main problem with BARC ratings is that the sample size is so small. Statistically speaking, we are a 32,000 crore industry and BARC has its meter in just 44,000 homes. As we traditionally say that of the overall sample size only 10 per cent watch news, we are left with just 4,400 boxes, which is very less for a huge market like India,” he elaborated.

He added that it is probably the reason why the Indian news industry is failing to grow and getting monotonous in its programming too.

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“You see each GEC has a different programming structure, each channel has a distinct identity. Similar is the case with every other genre, be it kids or sports. But in news, you see all the news channels have a similar programming line-up. They have a bank of 10-20 similar issues that they cover. BARC ratings confuse the editors so much that sometimes I question if an editor is really the editor or a producer, and for that matter, if the anchors are really actors,” Chaudhary commented.

The Daily News and Analysis host also blasted the news channels that flash BARC data every Thursday in a bid to lure advertisers and viewers. “As per BARC Guidelines, no channel is allowed to declare themselves number one based on only a week’s data. One needs to have at least four weeks of data to call themselves number one. But which channel is following this guideline? BARC data was never meant for the audience but the news channels are using that to influence them.”

He further stated that to move past this, advertisers will themselves have to make their own investments in time, efforts, and technology. “I agree that no single technology will be acceptable to everyone. We may start using some tools for measurement but my clients or advertisers might not agree to that. Therefore, it is important to agree on a uniform tech tool for measurement.”

Chaudhary emphasised that the whole news industry needs a mid-course correction otherwise the audience will start taking news channels as entertainment channels.

On being asked by Wanvari if the break on TRP ratings of news channels implemented by BARC in the wake of the recent TRP manipulation scam will change the industry, Chaudhary replied, “If I look at my own experience, I still feel nothing is going to change. But as an optimistic person, we are trying to change the programming of our own channels.”

He continued, “When this break was announced, I told my teams that this is a constructive window of three months and we can use that to our advantage. I also asked my viewers what sort of content they want to see from us and got thousands of responses. The top suggestions we got were news on employment, education, healthcare, and local heroes. So, as an experiment, we have already started a special programme that talks all about job opportunities, hiring, skill development, etc.”

Chaudhary went on to reveal that Zee News earned a 100 per cent increase in its digital audience during the Covid-2019 period.

“I cannot clearly talk about the numbers on the broadcast side because there is not much clarity but we have seen a hundred per cent spike on our digital platforms. Even if we come down from here (in post-pandemic times), we will still retain 70-80 per cent of our new audience,” he said.

But what the news space needs the most right now is good, solid editorialised content, insisted Chaudhary. News channels really need to buck up when it comes to creating valuable news content, and establish their own distinct identity.

November 2, 2020
MK Anand asserts that advertisers are reposing faith in news channels

NEW DELHI: Times Network MD and CEO M K Anand believes the TRP scandal couldn’t have come at a better time. In a virtual fireside chat with indiantelevision.com’s founder, CEO, and editor-in-chief Anil Wanvari during the NT Awards 2020 Summit powered by TVU Networks, Anand said the incident has given the TV news industry a time to pause to step back and evaluate itself. And the events that followed in light of the probe have presented a great opportunity for the entire system to put its house in order.

“From what I’ve seen in the last four years, fixing the back-end of the measurement mechanism is required. BARC CEO Sunil Lulla has been trying to bring a lot of sense to the process.He has been continuously improving it. But whether it is inside BARC or outside, there are people who break ranks and resort to corrupt means. We have seen them use shortcuts to get to the numbers and that is not acceptable,” he said.

Anand stressed the need to have legal remedies to deal with instances of tampering or malpractice. The Mumbai police’s investigation and action against those caught in the TRP racket was an unprecedented move, which should serve as a deterrent to wrongdoers."It is now a criminal offence to tamper with the ratings," he said. "In several instances in the past, when we wanted to register a complaint with the police, it was not possible. Hence it is good that it was registered as a police complaint for whatever reason."

But if we were to dive deeper, what precipitated this problem in the first place?

Gamification, coupled with a flux in the market, are major factors that contributed to the "TRP race," said Anand.

"A brand is built over a period of time with activities, groundwork, standing up for causes. But new players don't have the luxury of quarters and years that established brands – like Times Now or Aaj Tak – have. They try to break into the noticeable set by getting the numbers. It’s easier to use numbers to make the argument that they’re as good," he explained.

Read more news on Times Network

The current break in measuring TRPs for news channels, while a welcome decision by BARC, is not on account of content quality, claimed Anand. “Had the TRP scam not been unearthed, there wouldn’t have been a break. I wouldn’t connect the two. A player like us hasn’t been besotted with ratings from a time spent viewing (TSV) point of view.”

He illustrated how, when the network lost its “prime asset” in 2016-17, that being the News Hour host Arnab Goswami, it dealt with that huge loss and managed to reach its current position in the market.

“We have never, ever been time-spent focused, we have always gone the 'reach' route. We are content-focused and responsible to the viewers,” he added.

Consequently, Times Now has not peddled the kind of lower end content that the industry, in general, is currently being ridiculed for, Anand stated. However, he went on to assert, it’s not fair to tar all journalists and reporters with the same brush, and social media is responsible for propagating this herd mentality.

“Technology-empowered idiots are now dissing the experts in all fields. Same applies to journalism. People are coming onto social media with half-baked views and opinions and making the journalists out to be idiots. They get trolled by idiots sitting in an echo chamber – because that’s what social media is,” he said.

But journalists should take heart. Smart reporters shouldn’t get directed by social media, they should just do what they’re good at, not pay attention to the noise, and they will enjoy the work, directed Anand.

He pointed out that October advertising revenue numbers for his news channels and for those his industry colleagues are running are bouncing back. This despite the fact that the ratings are not being dished out. "Year to year the numbers are up clearly showing advertisers are reposing their faith in the category of news channels."

October 29, 2020
Bombay High Court stays BARC order against India Today

NEW DELHI: The TRP manipulation row has embroiled several parties including news broadcasters, research agencies and police authorities. The row is getting murkier as it goes along.

Last week, the Bombay high court stayed an order passed by BARC disciplinary committee and directed BARC India not to take any coercive action against India Today Group subject to a deposit of Rs 5 lakh with the court. Now, after various sections of news media purportedly misreported facts in the case, India Today has issued a clarification.

Referring to the plea it filed against the BARC order, TV Today said in a statement, “The petition filed challenges an order passed by the BARC disciplinary committee on the grounds that it was without an appropriate quorum and without presenting evidence, among other criteria. The court has stayed the order and directed that no coercive action be taken subject to a deposit of 5 lakh with the court– and not with BARC– and without prejudice to our rights.”

The media house pointed out the misinterpretation of the court order by several news outlets that TV Today must pay a fine of Rs 5 lakh to BARC. “It is unfortunate that certain sections of the media are misreporting the reasons for TV Today approaching the Bombay high court against BARC,” it said.

The network also clarified that the Hansa report has nothing to do with the case filed by it against BARC. “Similarly, any mention of TV Today's name in the Hansa report is something we are completely unaware of. We are not privy to any such information, and neither has BARC informed us of the report.”

The TRP manipulation scam was unearthed by the Mumbai police on 8 October. Since then, several news broadcasters have been reeled into the controversy surrounding the matter. Charges and allegations have freely flown and a string of law suits and FIRs have been filed, with no end seemingly in sight.

October 26, 2020
Guest column: BARC is ‘Measure For Measure’, not ‘As You Like It’ (Sorry, Shakespeare)

MUMBAI: Nashik of the 1970s wasn’t the energetic city which you may have visited in recent years. It was a bucolic backwater to which retirees from Bombay’s (it was Bombay back then) Parsi and Bohri communities would gravitate. The pervasive pastoral stillness would be punctuated, infrequently, by the ponderous report of field guns from the Regiment of Artillery, still headquartered there, or the whiplash crack of the MiG-21s, test flying from the HAL Ozar plant, as they broke the sound barrier.

A schoolboy, this schoolboy, in such a town had little fodder to satiate his keen appetite for the novel and interesting. What you, growing up in Delhi, Bombay or Bangalore, would have shrugged off with a dismissive wave, was a source of wonder and delight for him.

Every once in a while, there would be a clutch of no more than three or four people walking purposefully along one of the main thoroughfares, one of them bearing a sturdy wooden tripod, topped off with rather elaborate apparatus. They would stop; the tripod unfolded and placed carefully, with a bloke checking a spirit level for the horizontal; caps taken off a little telescope which was the business end of the wondrous thing; and even as one of the team members scurried off into the distance with a pennant, the senior chap would begin to peer intently through the eyepiece of the telescope and start recording – I had no idea what – in his little notebook.

If you still haven’t figured out what I allude to, it’s called a theodolite. Used by surveyors for creating detailed maps over large areas. In effect, the theodolite is really an instrument to measure length, which in this special case should correctly be labelled distance.

Even as these wonders unfolded in the wide open spaces, our science teacher was instructing us about the centrality of measurement in the Physics lab. We were introduced to the metric and imperial systems and got a chance to use various instruments which enabled precise measurements, even of really small units. While everyone had a pocket ruler marked off in millimetres, any smaller length or width was beyond its abilities. The micrometre screw gauge was a near miraculous tool for a schoolboy. Who would have thought that one could measure the thickness of a sheet of paper? Or aluminium foil? And there it was, doing exactly that.

I had learned, that quiet morning in a Deolali laboratory, that it was as important to measure the minuscule as it was to measure the colossal. A theodolite could measure the height of Mt Everest but it would be of little use if the task was to measure the diameter of a needle or a shirt length from a bolt of fine cotton. That measurement was not a one-size-fits-all activity.

Sadly, four decades later, we are attempting to use a metre rule to measure a hair’s breadth.

The BARC audience measurement system is designed to measure “What India Watches.” In an accurate analogy, the task involves measuring both the gargantuan (top Hindi entertainment channel with 1.3 billion impressions) and the minuscule (English news channel with 600,000 impressions). If the English news channel was the thickness of a typical sheet of paper, the Hindi entertainment channel would be thicker than four reams of 500 sheets each. Indeed, the entire English news genre with 2.7 million impressions would amount to just over four sheets, against over 2,000 for the single Hindi entertainment channel.

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You should be able to see, now, that BARC’s measurement is already able to span the range of measurements from a virtual micrometre gauge to a virtual metre rule. People who complain that BARC is unequal to its assigned task should know that this is quite unlike anything that similar systems in other jurisdictions are designed to do.

Consider a tiny market like Serbia, population seven million, which Nielsen Audience Measurement (Serbia) tracks with 880 metered homes. For comparison, Hyderabad, India’s fourth most populous urban agglomeration, is about seven million too. Serbia has 120 metered homes per million population. At a similar metering density, BARC would have to metre over 56,000 metered homes only for urban India (population 471 million).

Unfortunately, this would not be terribly helpful. Here’s why. Indians currently watch about 250 minutes of TV per day, with a standard deviation of 15 minutes. The standard error of this number, at 160,000 respondents in the panel, is two seconds. If the sample was to double, this would shrink to 1.7 seconds.

The non-intuitive thing about statistical sampling is this. A doubling of the sample, from its current level, would yield a mere 15 per cent improvement in accuracy. On a number which is already incredibly accurate.

Ask yourself. Are you a citizen of 185 Serbias? Or ONE INDIA?

The author is principal at Provocateur Advisory. The opinions expressed here are his own and Indiantelevision.com may not subscribe to them.

October 26, 2020
Amid controversy BARC assures total commitment to it stakeholders

NEW DELHI: Over the last several days, there have been various news reports as regard to Television Ratings and Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC India). BARC India as an Industry body has representation from bodies that represent Broadcasters, Advertisers, and Advertising and Media Agencies. BARC India owns and manages a transparent, accurate and inclusive TV audience measurement system.

BARC is providing the necessary assistance to the ongoing investigation by law enforcement agency and this should be seen in the light of larger stability of the panel and in the interests of self-regulation, rather than in isolated cases of particular channels which leads to a distortion of facts.

Our efforts on combating infiltration are focused on the individual(s) responsible for these activities and we firmly believe that television channels are committed to maintaining a clean and transparent ecosystem.

BARCs management team works with full confidence and support of Board and the various Committees. BARC continues to be driven by only one goal: to generate ratings that its subscribers rely on which are deeply rooted in science, report with the greatest sense of responsibility and truly reflect ‘What India Watches’.

October 17, 2020
A forgettable 10 days for the news broadcasting industry

KOLKATA: This past week saw news channels become the breaking news. It all started with the Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh claiming to have uncovered a TRP rigging con. Matters came to a head when BARC decided to hit the pause button on weekly news channel ratings.

Here are the important twists that shook the industry:

The Mumbai Police on 8 October announced they have busted a TRP manipulation racket involving Republic TV and two Marathi channels. Hansa Research CEO Praveen Nijhara said the agency conducted an investigation with BARC which resulted in Hansa Research filing an FIR against an ex-employee who was engaged in some wrongdoing.

However, the Arnab Goswami-led Republic TV denied any allegation of manipulating BARC data and accused the police of “personal vendetta." The channel stated that its name was not mentioned in the FIR for this case at all.

At the same time, the TV viewership measurement body BARC also re-emphasised that it has always remained accurate and faithful. The News Broadcasters Association (NBA) called an emergency meeting of its board to discuss the TRP manipulation case.

Read more news on BARC

There was also a rumour that India Today had been named in the FIR as indulging in TRP gaming. But they issued a clarification: the channel’s name was mentioned but there was no evidence or witnesses to substantiate the allegation.

Soon after, top executives from two major brands said that they would pull out advertisements from channels that promote toxic content. Many other brands came forward in support of the decision, reminding news channels about the need to improve content quality. The NBA also praised the move saying it would help the fight against toxic content.

As the controversy dragged on, BARC board proposed that it’s technical committee (TechComm) would review and augment the current standards of measuring and reporting the data of niche genres, to improve their statistical robustness and to significantly hamper the potential attempts of infiltrating the panel homes. This exercise would cover all Hindi, regional, English news and business news channels with immediate effect.

Therefore, starting with the ‘news genre’, BARC decided to cease publishing the weekly individual ratings for all news channels during the exercise. The process is expected to take around eight-twelve weeks including validation and testing under the supervision of Tech Comm. BARC will continue to release weekly audience estimates for the genre of news by state and language.

Following the announcement, NBA came forward in support of BARC. It is of the view that the suspension is an important step in the right direction. On the other hand, the News Broadcasters Federation (NBF), objected to the decision to pause audience estimates (ratings) of news channels.

Meanwhile, a regulatory intervention could strike the industry soon. The parliamentary standing committee on information technology that met on Thursday to discuss ‘ethical standards in media coverage’ seemed none too happy about the TV viewership measurement system. It opined that the current metric of measuring audience estimates through TRPs is flawed, that the technology it depends on is outdated, and that the system is easily manipulated.

October 17, 2020
How will BARC’s decision impact news channels?

KOLKATA: L'affaire TV ratings continues. In an unprecedented move, the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India has decided to cease giving out ratings for individual news channels as it goes about improving the way it does its measurement and improves security. The twonews industry associations expressed diamterically opposte views on BARC's decision. While the NBA welcomed it, the NBF expressed its disappoinment at not being consulted.

A key question that begs asking is: will the absence of ratings impact the way marketers, media planners and buyers buy air time on the news genres?

BARC data, the only currency to measure what is being watched on TV in India, plays a major role in the decision-making process of advertisers and agencies. Many news broadcasters are perhaps chewing on their fingernails, fretting over the impact this may have on their revenue.

Some experts from media agencies believe news channels sales folks needn't worry; there may be very little change.

Read more news on BARC

An expert from a large media agency stated, on the condition of anonymity, that the media-rating blackout is not a brand-new experience. Back in the TAM regime, when linear TV was a much stronger medium, the industry survived without any ratings on several occasions, sometimes for as long as a couple of months. He added that advertising never got impacted due to issues regarding jurisdiction.

Another media executive expressed that there might be a marginal movement of ad dollars to other genres in the short run. "News being a high impact genre can’t be ignored under any circumstances. Further, he cautioned that channels should take note in improving the content quality given the increasing negative sentiment among a part of advertisers as well as viewers," he said.

Parle Products senior category marketing head BK Rao believes that ratings are not the only inputs that drive buying decisions for TV. "Besides ratings, brands consider other inputs too, such as speaking to distributors, the programming line-up, and time bands," he shared. More importantly, Rao feels that now the focus will shift to quality, rather than quantity. “Advertisers will be forced to look at the quality aspect. They will have to speak to shareholders to understand the consumption pattern. In general or business news, content will be considered as a key factor. Quality analysis of news will play a major role. Overall, news networks will definitely suffer revenue-wise. Advertising people will shift their revenue to other genres,” he theorised.

Some analysts are playing the waiting game, unwilling to leap to any conclusions. “It is too early. As the situation is evolving, it is difficult to predict now. Everybody is evaluating right now as the scene is unfolding gradually,” said Dentsu India CEO Anand Bhadkamkar.

A senior industry veteran opines that news channels should start leaning towards a subscription model. "As a group if they decide to go pay and don't break that pact, they will find enough viewing cohorts nationally to help them have a viable business model," says he. "Advertising will then be the cream on top, and not their lifeblood. They will then be able to go about being the fourth estate of society without any worries about the stances they take."
Are the new channels head honchos listening?

October 16, 2020
NBF calls out BARC for ‘singling out’ news genre

NEW DELHI: The News Broadcasters Federation (NBF), India’s largest industry association representing interests of news broadcasters from across the length and breadth of the country, has strongly objected to BARC’s decision to pause audience estimates (ratings) of news channels. It has stated that:

(1) BARC did not consult the NBF, before such a crucial decision, which impacts the entire news broadcasting industry, the single-largest genre within the television sector. BARC would not have taken any such crucial decision if it had involved any genre, without consulting GECs member channels.

(2) BARC meters do not single-out the news genre in its audience measurement system. If BARC sincerely wants to review and augment its system, it should pause ratings for all genres including general entertainment channels (GEC), sports, Infotainment, movies, music, kids, youth and lifestyle.

(3) Information has come out recently about a channel which has been found guilty of TRP manipulation and has been fined by the BARC disciplinary committee. NBF is shocked that a member of the same channel has been included on the board of BARC. It’s not just a conflict of interest and no reasonable decision-making process can happen with a person named in ratings manipulations. What has happened itself is shocking. Now the matter is in the public domain, this individual on the board of BARC should voluntarily remove the said executive from the his position for a period of at least one year.

“The decision is unilateral, one-sided and undemocratic, impacting and targeting one single genre within the broadcasting ecosystem,” NBF general secretary R Jai Krishna said. “The decision will severely impact news broadcasters, who have seen a surge in ratings despite the challenges of a lower-than-expected economic growth that has impacted their revenues already. in addition to the financial impact created by the lockdown to prevent spread of Covid-19.”

NBF counts Dighvijay, DY365 News, First India Rajasthan, Gulistan News, IBC24, India News, JK 24X7, Living India News, MH One News, News Live, News Nation, NewsX, North East Live, Odisha TV, Prag News, PuthiyaThalaimurai TV, Republic Bharat, Republic TV, S Newz, TV5, First News Kannada, India News Gujarat, India News MPCG, India News Rajasthan, India News UPUK, India News Punjab Himachal and Twenty Four News among its members.

October 15, 2020