Thursday is for the television industry what Friday is for the cinema business in the country. Every Thursday, Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) comes out with viewership numbers that determine the advertising revenue a channel might get, quite like the first-day-first-show decides the fate of a just-released film across theatres, Friday after Friday. Last Thursday was different: Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh announced that a racket involving private TV channels manipulating their TRPs (TV rating points) had been busted. Ever since, it’s been one broadcaster’s voice against the other and one politician’s against the other.
At stake is the