Context :
Govt panel:
Use STBs to get universal TRP data
/ Times of India / 04 Nov 2021
Extract :
The four-member
committee appointed by the government in November 2020 to review the
‘Guidelines on Television Rating Agencies in India’ year has recommended that
it should be made mandatory to universalise collection of viewership
information by using the ‘ Return Path Data ’ (RPD) technology.
The report, which
was shared with the Broadcast Audience Research Council India (BARC India) and all broadcaster associations on Monday, acknowledges that there
has been a broad consensus among most stakeholders in favour of leveraging RPD capabilities.
The four-member
committee appointed by the government in November 2020 to review the
‘Guidelines on Television Rating Agencies in India’ year has recommended that it should be made mandatory to
universalise collection of viewership information by using the ‘Return
Path Data’ (RPD) technology.
Led by Prasar
Bharati chief executive Shashi Shekhar Vempati, the committee was appointed in
the backdrop of the ‘ TRP Scam ’
unearthed by the Mumbai police in October 2020, which pointed to the
“fraudulent” manipulation of Television Rating Points (TRPs) by three channels
– Republic TV, Fakt Marathi and Box Cinema.
The report, which
was shared with the Broadcast Audience Research Council India ( BARC
India ) and all broadcaster associations on Monday,
acknowledges that there has been a broad consensus among most stakeholders in
favour of leveraging RPD capabilities.
Observing that the
review of the Television Ratings
System in India was
undertaken during a period of “immense change within the media sector” and at a
juncture “when the integrity of the ratings system has come under critical
public scrutiny”, the committee recommended increasing competitiveness in the TV ratings space, putting in place a “specialised regulatory mechanism”, and increasing
the base for TV ratings in India in line with global benchmarks.
“As a first step,
the committee recommends that provision for
RPD be made a mandatory capability of all future Set Top
Boxes (STBs) deployed by Distributor Platform Operators so that RPD
becomes a ubiquitous capability on par with encryption, conditional access and
other such mandatory STB level capabilities,” the report said.
It added, “Further, all collection of viewership data by DPOs
should be governed by privacy norms prescribed by the government/regulator.
Additionally, the sale or
sharing of such viewership data by the
DPOs should be governed by the guidelines for TV rating systems.”
Recommending to BARC
the integration of existing RPD data within
six months, the panel also batted for setting up a joint industry working
group comprising stakeholders to “specify the norms for an industry-wide RPD
mandate, to codify privacy protection, and to govern the sale/sharing of RPD
data in a transparent manner.”
“The
government may consider temporarily suspending the license to BARC India after
suitably amending guidelines and issuing necessary directions to BARC India.
The temporary suspension may be limited to the period till BARC India,” the
report said.
MY TAKE :
This is a very good
FIRST STEP . I have no doubt, by 2024, this will morph every TV into a Computer, as envisaged in my following e-mail :
The Future of TV Viewing ? ………………[ 26 March 2019 ]
Extract :
But imagine if each Set Top
Box, were to morph into a BAR-O-Meter
By end of 2019, number of households with TV sets , is likely to be close
to 200 million
That makes for 200 Million BAR-O-Meters - as against 40,000 today !
And to complete the TV VIEWERSHIP
MEASUREMENT revolution, stretch your imagination as follows :
# All of this 200
Million “ Smart Set Top Boxes “ will be tiny Super-computers
with terabytes of
memory
# All of these will
be only “ Pre-paid “ versions enabling instant Online
Payments from TV Screen /
Remote
# These Set Top
Boxes will show ALL TV channels, all the time, – eliminating
need for ala-carte pre-selection on Service provider’s web site / filling up
channel selection forms of MSO ( TV Cable operators )
# A viewer would be
able to view ANY channel, any time
# Smart Set Top Box
will automatically / instantly, deduct money ( from pre-paid
account of the
household ), based on “ Per Minute “ tariff for each channel . “
Credit Balance “ will flash in screen corner , every 10 minutes
# Being a “ Super
Smart Set Top Box “ , internet will be integrated and web sites
made
available on TV screen ( - why need a separate computer screen ? )
# Smart Set Top Box
will also enable Video – Audio Streaming services like
Netflix and just
announced Apple TV+/ Apple News Plus / Apple Arcade etc
# Smart Set Top Box
will enable job portals ( and of course, LinkedIn ) to deliver
“ Suitable /
Recommended Job Alerts “, and permit “ Apply Online “, using
remote
# Solely at his own
discretion, a viewer would ,
>
Allow advertisers to display “
Customized Advts “ on his TV screen ,
based on his TV Channel Viewing History
> Rent his “ Net Surfing History “ to Social Media Sites for a “ Monthly
Rental “ of Rs 1,000
* Set Top Box will be
synchronized with Alexa – Google Home – Siri – Cortana
etc to accept voice
commands
When 5G – Quantum Computing – DNA
based Memory Storage – Li Fi – Face Recognition – AR – VR – AI - Blockchain etc
mature, what I have envisaged above, is bound to happen
I am a great believer in :
If you can imagine something today ,
technology will turn it into reality tomorrow !
Questions
are :
# Will TRAI or some
other regulating agency try to stop the advance of
technology ?
# Will some Start Up
come forward to take up this challenge to disrupt the
Advertising Industry ?
Extract :
Every
10 minutes , those 200 million “ Super
Smart Set-top Boxes “ , will automatically upload, the
“ Channel wise , Hours Viewed “ data onto a CENTRAL SERVER of
BARC ( Server will aggregate data ) .
In this age of IoT
{ Internet of Things } , where millions of EV cars have become “Computers on
Wheels “ and where TV Channels display WEATHER MAPS of 10,000 Cities ( with
their latest temperature / humidity ), what I am suggesting is
something that TCS-WIPRO – INFOSYS – L&T INFOTECH, can implement within 6
months !
Software
on BARC server will dynamically compute
TRP ( for each TV channel ), and display graphically on the “ Home Page “ of
BARC website ( a Bar Chart in descending order , with a “ time stamp
“ ) . Everything automatic ( without human intervention ) / up-to-date /
transparent / cannot be manipulated by anyone ! Remember , it might be possible
to bribe 2000 households in Mumbai, to leave their TV Sets ON ( 24x7 ) ,
but there is no way anyone can bribe 200 MILLION households, spread all over
India
Clicking
on the BAR for any TV Channel , will display its TRP Graph , of last 1 day / 1
week / 1 month etc
Dear
Shri Javadekarji,
You
are in the position to start this REFORM of “ Social Benefit
Consequences “ ( “ Employment “ – by way of just one example ) ,
which goes far beyond a matter of concern to Companies wanting to advertise on
TV channels
Dear Shri Shashi Shekhar
Vempatiji
I urge you to examine whether this ( next version
of Super Set Top Boxes ) morphing of 20 crore TV sets can be leveraged for :
Ø
Launch
of TV channels by the players of Online Education Industry such as Byju /
UnAcademy / Khan’s Academy ( and the
Central + State governments ) etc. This innovation will take education to
millions of poor students all over India, who, either cannot afford a Smart
Phone or have no access to reasonably priced broadband
Ø
Skiiling /
Reskilling of millions of our workers ( who are threatened by job-losses due to
mechanization / automation of factory-floor jobs ) , by launch of SKILLING
CHANNELS
With regards,
Related Readings :
Peter’s
WEB 3.0……………………………………………………………….. [ 09 Dec 2018 ]
===================================================
Extract :
The sector is experiencing a crisis as many
consumers at the top end of the pay-TV
spectrum opt for video streaming services, while
those at the bottom move to free-to-air platforms, resulting in a subscription
revenue squeeze. Also, advertisement revenues are yet to recover from last
year’s Covid disruptions
“The review of up-linking and downlinking guidelines, which is due,
is going to further improve the ease of doing business in the sector,” he said.
“We saw an opportunity to expand the scope of IBF to include digital and
rechristened IBF as IBDF in a challenging year like this,” Madhavan said. “We
were the first to launch a self-regulatory organisation with widespread
engagement from member companies.”
Extract :
The
Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has formed a technology
innovation group on the next frontier, the sixth generation (6G), hoping to take the lead in the development of the
technology globally.
Telecom
Secretary, K Rajaraman will head the initiative as chairperson and the forum
aims to create vision and
objectives
as well as develop a roadmap for research and development (R&D),
pre-standardisation, development of applications and products, and action plans for 6G technology.
But
the government is eyeing higher participation of India in futuristic technological advancements worldwide, and to essentially increase the country’s contribution in
the global value chain.
China’s Huawei, and Korea’s Samsung and
LG have already started work on 6G technology, which is likely to be much
faster than 5G, enabling a massive societal change.
The next generation of
technology is expected to make its first commercial move before
2030.
===================================================
