Bombay HC directs TV Today Network to deposit Rs 5 lakh fine imposed by BARC for granting interim protection

The Bombay High Court has directed TV Today Network Ltd to deposit the fine imposed on it by the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) if it wanted protection from possible coercive action, legal news website BarandBench.com has reported.

BARC had earlier passed an order against TV Today Network alleging violation of its code of conduct, and had imposed a fine of Rs. 5 lakh on the network.

The Bench of Justices Nitin Jamdar and Milind Jadhav held that, "It will be open to TV Today Network without prejudice to its rights and contentions to deposit the amount of Rs.5 lakhs as directed by the BARC's Disciplinary Council in the registry of this court. If this amount is deposited no coercive steps will be taken against TV Today in the meanwhile."

TV Today, which runs the India Today and Aaj Tak channels, had approached the High Court seeking directions to quash and set aside the order of BARC and a warning letter cautioning the network to refrain from indulging in any viewership malpractice.

The network sought interim protection from the court against any possible coercive action which BARC may take against it.

The BARC order arose from a show cause notice to TV Today alleging that there was a significant abnormal jump in the reach of its channels without any distribution improvement.

BARC alleged that it appeared to them "that this abnormal jump in the Daily Average Reach of the TV Today channels may be due to influencing the panel households which was strictly prohibited by the Code of Conduct for redressing the viewership malpractices.”

The plea challenged the order on the ground that BARC failed to show evidence to prove the allegations against TV Today and has passed an unreasoned order.

It was further pointed out that BARC has not uploaded any report of an independent audit process being carried out to detect viewership malpractice, as per the guidelines of the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

Appearing for BARC, advocates Ashish Kamath and Thomas George brought to the attention of the court that the same Bench had considered an identical matter against BARC which is posted for hearing in November.

The court therefore adjourned the present matter to November 5.