Decision on addition of four independent members to BARC Board likely today

The Broadcasters Audience Research Council (BARC) India will be adding four new independent members to its board in line with the recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and the TRP Committee headed by Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati.

The addition of four independent members to the Board is one of the key agendas for the meeting of all the stakeholders including the AAAI, ISA and IBDF. The BARC India Board currently comprises members from three industry bodies besides the lone representative from public broadcaster Prasar Bharati.

"Four names have been proposed to BARC for their induction to the Board as independent members. BARC India will meet on Tuesday to take a call on the inclusion of independent members. Individuals whose names have been proposed need to accept BARC's invite to join the board," a source close to the development told exchange4media.

While directing BARC India to release news ratings with immediate effect, the ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB) had last month noted that the council has revised its processes, protocols, oversight mechanism and initiated changes in the governance structure. The ministry had added that BARC has initiated the process to reconstitute its Board and the Technical Committee by inducting independent members.

As reported earlier, ZEEL MD and CEO Punit Goenka's three-year term as BARC India Chairman ended in December. The audience measurement will have to elect a new Chairman. BARC stakeholders will also deliberate on the issue of electing a new Chairman at the meeting.

As per BARC India's rotation policy, the ISA will have to nominate its representatives to the post of Chairmanship. Last time around, the ISA had decided to skip its turn to nominate its Chairman. exchange4media has learnt that the ISA is not keen to take up the Chairman's post and is most likely to give it a miss this time as well. Therefore, the next Chairman will come from either the AAAI or IBDF. It is also possible that an independent board member might become the Chairman.

"Representatives from IBDF, AAAI, and ISA will meet soon to decide on the new Chairman of BARC India as Punit Goenka's term got over in December. It is not clear if he is keen to continue for another year since ISA is likely to stay out of the Chairmanship fray. As per rules, it's ISA’s turn to have its representative as the Chairman, but they are hesitant to take up the position. So, the new Chairman will be from IBDF or AAAI. An independent board member might also become the Chairman," a source close to the development had told exchange4media.com.

Madison Media & OOH Group CEO Vikram Sakhuja last week took over as the Chairman of the Broadcasters Audience Research Council India's Technical Committee. He replaced IPG Mediabrands India CEO Shashi Sinha who served as BARC TechComm Chairman for close to a decade since taking charge in 2012.