Sunil Lulla has quit as the chief executive officer of the Broadcast Audience Research Council, Livemint reported yesterday. Exchange4media also reported his departure, noting that his journey at BARC had been "nothing less than a rollercoaster ride".
Lulla, an industry veteran and former group CEO of Balaji Telefilms, had been appointed CEO in October 2019. He took over from Partho Dasgupta, the beleaguered former CEO who was later arrested in December 2020 in connection with the TRP scam.
According to the Mumbai police, some channels, including Republic, are involved in this case, which involves the "manipulation" of ratings, or TRPs.
Subsequently, BARC announced the suspension of ratings of news channels for three months to “review its already stringent protocols and further augment them”.
Lulla also wrote to BARC subscribers, emphasising that "in spite of what may get reported or opined in the press, our governance continues to be robust and all of us at BARC continue to be driven by only one goal: to generate ratings that you rely on which are deeply rooted in science, free of any bias and truly reflect ‘What India Watches’..."
Lulla had also been reportedly questioned by the CBI in March this year, while the Enforcement Directorate had summoned members of his team in January, Exchange4media reported.
Newslaundry reported on the TRP scam at length. Check out our coverage here.
Also Read: How BARC manipulated data on the pretext of ‘controlling outliers’
Also Read: TRP scam: BARC's TV audience measurement system is rotten
Also Read: TRP scam: How BARC is shrouded in mystery over data rigging
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