'Times Now's Viewership Numbers Deliberately Reduced To Benefit A Newly Launched Channel' : Bennett Coleman Serves Legal Notice On BARC

Stating that Times Now has been operating in India for over 15 years and is highly popular amongst its viewers and advertisers due to "good programming content, packaging and provision of timely news updates with a very wide reach throughout the country with honest and fearless reporting", the notice alleges that BARC has been involved in "fraudulent and dishonest activities" with the intention to cause "financial and reputational loss" to Times Now and thereby ensue "deliberate illegal enrichment to BARC and their co-conspirators along with other benefiting parties". The notice goes on to contend that the subject matter does not only concern corrupt manipulations and rigging of TRP/Viewership Data in lieu of illegal gratification from particular channels, but also reveals a "larger, deep-rooted conspiracy to fraudulently and dishonestly inflate the valuation and "BARC, in connivance with the beneficiary channel/subscriber has perpetrated a systematic fraud to deceive and dishonestly induce our Clients, advertisers, viewers, stakeholders and investors into believing that the beneficiary channel is the most watched English News TV channel in the country, whereas in reality as per genuine data available with BARC, the most watched English News TV Channel was that of our Clients i.e. The notice further states that the Forensic Report sheds a light on how BARC officials ensured that Times Now's numbers "were kept under constant scanner to control and reduce its viewership and BARC has taken every step/action to continuously and deliberately reduce Times Now's TRP numbers for extending help to the other competing channel launched in 2017". "…our Clients state that BARC is not only liable for civil action to be initiated against it but is also squarely liable to be prosecuted for serious cognizable criminal offences under sections 420, 406, 409, 465, 467, 468, 471, 201, 204, 212, 120 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860."