Mumbai: “There is a total loss of faith and credibility in the working of Barc,” said iTV network when it announced its exit from the TV rating agency Broadcast Audience Research Council.

iTV network which owns nine channels has announced its decision to pull out from Barc ratings with immediate effect on Tuesday.

In an official communiqué, iTV network said, “Time and again, we’ve raised our concern and reservations over the arbitrary and unilateral mechanism being used by Barc. We have raised very serious issues regarding the reliability/trustworthiness of the ratings, but none of our concerns has been addressed till date. There is a total loss of faith and credibility in the working of Barc, and we along with many broadcasters are forced to remain connected with Barc because it is the only TV ratings agency and enjoys a dominant position. The unexplained actions of Barc have greatly damaged our networks.”

In lieu of above, iTV network has sent a letter to the TV viewership measurement company Barc informing the decision to suspend ratings for the time being till its grievances are taken care of by the audience measurement body.

The media networks runs two national channels - India News, NewsX and seven regional channels - India News Haryana, India News UP/UK, India News MPCG, India News Gujarat, India News Rajasthan, India News Punjab-Himachal-Jammu Kashmir and NE News.

On 1 October 2022, ZEE Media, one of the biggest media giants, who also took this bold and definite decision to stop participating in the Barc ratings, also questioned the rating agency about their whole structure and operation transparency towards the news industry. Now, iTV network seems to have joined the same league.

Also read: Zee Media announces pulling out 14 new channels from Barc ratings