Final TRP committee by next week

After forming a committee to initiate a policy on displaying content on OTT or Internet platforms, now another committee will be formed for determining television rating points (TRP), said Information Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud.

He said the committee would be finalized by next week while exchanging views with journalists on contemporary issues in the meeting room of the Information Ministry at the Secretariat on Thursday afternoon.

Noting that the OTT platform is increasingly connected with the country, society, and global reality, the information minister said, "Our aim is not to disrupt the platform but to remove the obstacles."

Many times, the content of the OTT platform has been seen to be an attempt to destroy the image of the state and society, reads a press release.

In neighbouring India, the government is issuing a notification that all the content of the OTT platform has to go through a kind of censorship on the basis of a policy.

He also added that "We don't want to do that. We have met with various stakeholders to ensure that the content displayed on the OTT platform is compatible with our culture, traditions, and values. Going through all the content sensors will create obstacles and the manpower required for this is not easy.

“This requires a policy, in which case legal action can be taken. That is what the people and partners of the country want. That is why a 15-member committee has been formed with public-private partners under the leadership of the Additional Secretary (Broadcasting) of the Ministry of Information to formulate a policy in this regard.”

On TRP, the minister said, "We have said before that there is a huge discrepancy in the determination of TRP. No non-government organization has the authority to issue TRPs without the permission of the state. So it needs to come within the rules. We have reviewed and tested the TRP determination method in different countries including India.

“We will form a committee with stakeholders next week to formulate a TRP determination strategy. That committee will decide how the TRP will be determined,” the minister explained.