The
Enforcement
Directorate
(ED)
on
Wednesday
attached
assets
worth
about
Rs
32
crore
of
some
Maharashtra-based
television
channels
in
connection
with
its
money
laundering
probe
into
the
alleged
TRP
scam.
The
properties,
attached
under
the
provisions
of
the
Prevention
of
Money
Laundering
Act
(PMLA)
belong
to
channels
like
Fakt
Marathi,
Box
Cinema
and
Maha
Movie
and
are
in
the
form
of
land
and
commercial
and
residential
units
in
Mumbai,
Indore,
Delhi
and
Gurgaon
apart
from
some
bank
deposits,
the
central
agency
said
in
a
statement.
The
agency
claimed
that
"in
two
of
these
channels
just
5
compromised
households
were
contributing
to
approximately
25
per
cent
of
the
viewership
of
Mumbai
for
the
relevant
period
and
for
the
third
channel,
5
compromised
households
were
contributing
to
about
12
per
cent
of
viewership
of
Mumbai."
The
agency
had
filed
a
money
laundering
case
against
the
channels
after
studying
a
Mumbai
Police
FIR
for
alleged
manipulation
of
Television
Rating
Points
(TRPs).
"Television
channels
namely
Fakt
Marathi,
Box
Cinema
and
Maha
Movie
had
entered
into
a
criminal
conspiracy
to
cheat
and
commit
the
offence
of
criminal
breach
of
trust,
forgery
in
order
to
gain
wrongfully
by
manipulating
TRPs
of
these
television
channels."
"Thus,
by
fraudulently
enhancing
the
TRP
ratings,
these
channels
have
garnered
enhanced
advertisement
revenue," the
ED
claimed.
TRP
indicates
popularity
of
a
TV
channel
or
a
programme
and
also
enables
advertisers
to
understand
viewership
pattern.
These
barometers
are
installed
for
Broadcast
Audience
Research
Council
by
Hansa
(BARC
decides
the
household
where
the
Bar-o-meter
is
to
be
installed
and
the
installation
is
handled
by
third
party
agency
known
as
Hansa
Research
Group
Limited)
and
employees
(relationship
managers)
of
Hansa
install
and
service
the
device,
it
said.
"TRP
becomes
an
important
basis
on
which
advertisement
is
allocated
to
any
channel
and
determines
the
revenue
generation
of
television
channel.
Thus,
manipulation
of
TRP
becomes
a
tool
for
generating
greater
advertisement
revenue
It
was
found
that
the
"confidential
information
of
the
households
where
Bar-o-meter
are
installed
was
revealed
by
the
relationship
managers
to
various
unscrupulous
elements
for
pecuniary
gains
and
thereafter
the
households
were
bribed
and
induced
to
watch
specific
channels,
which
fraudulently
enhanced
the
television
rating
points
(TRP)
for
the
television
channel
and
on
the
basis
of
rigged
TRP,
advertisers
were
deceived
and
advertised
on
the
channel
which
would
not
have
been
otherwise
done."
The
ED
claimed
that
the
accused
channels
generated
a
total
"proceeds
of
crime" to
the
tune
of
Rs
46.77
crore.