Sept 25: 787 COVID-19 cases, 11 deaths in Karnataka
Bengaluru, Sep 25: Karnataka on Saturday clocked 787 fresh COVID-19 cases, taking the caseload to 29.73 lakh, while 11 deaths pushed the toll to 37,717.
The day also saw 775 people being discharged, taking the total number of recoveries to 29.21 lakh. Active cases stood at 13,307, a health department bulletin said.
Bengaluru Urban accounted for the maximum number of 276 cases and four fatalities, it said.
Dakshina Kannada district bordering Kerala remained a major COVID-19 hotspot with 127 fresh infections and one death.
Other districts too reported fresh cases, including Udupi 68, Mysuru 65, 29 in Tumakuru, 27 each in Uttara Kannada and Chikkamagaluru, 25 in Kodagu and 22 each in Belagavi and Kolar.
Bagalkote, Bidar, Gadag, Koppal and Vijayapura reported zero infections and zero COVID-19 related deaths.
Twenty-five districts reported zero fatalities, the bulletin said.
A total of 1,40,832 samples were tested in the state on Saturday, taking the cumulative number of specimens examined to 4.71 crore.
The number of vaccinations done in the state rose to 5.45 crore, with 2,26,786 people being inoculated today, it added.
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Union government assumes full control over TV ratings, TRAI role curtailed: Report
New Delhi: The Union government has assumed full control over television audience measurement, removing the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) from oversight of the ratings system that underpins the country’s ₹36,000 crore television advertising market, according to a report published on Wednesday.
The report in Mint said the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) now has exclusive authority over the framework governing how television ratings are measured and regulated. TRAI had been entrusted with oversight of TV ratings in 2012 during the UPA government’s tenure. TRAI is no longer mentioned in the relevant policy document, effectively vesting sole authority in the MIB.
The report said TRAI will continue to regulate other aspects of broadcasting, including channel pricing, advertising caps, interconnection and distribution norms, service quality and compliance standards. Its role in determining how ratings agencies track viewing behaviour has been withdrawn.
Television Rating Points (TRPs), which reflect viewership patterns, guide advertisers in deciding where to allocate spending across channels and time slots.
A government source quoted in the report said the ministry could modify TRAI’s decisions even when the regulator oversaw broadcasting.
A former CEO of Prasar Bharati told the newspaper that the MIB has historically regulated rating agencies through licensing and guidelines, and by holding them accountable under existing norms.
During its tenure overseeing ratings, TRAI had taken decisions affecting the broadcast sector, which included capping advertising time at 12 minutes per hour following complaints about excessive commercial breaks and it now remains unclear how these matters will be addressed under the revised arrangement.
Satya N. Gupta, former principal advisor at TRAI, was quoted as saying that merging regulatory functions with policy oversight and removing an independent regulator from the process was a retrograde step.
TRAI’s involvement in broadcasting had earlier attracted criticism as well. In 2012, its consultation paper on quantitative limits on television advertising was viewed by some as overlapping with the Advertising Standards Council of India’s code. Subsequent recommendations covering television audience measurement, ownership of news channels and issues such as paid news had also raised concerns among sections of the industry.
Television ratings have faced scrutiny in recent years, including during the controversy involving the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), where officials of the ratings body were prosecuted over allegations of manipulation of viewership data.
