New Delhi: The Union government has reportedly taken full control over television ratings, which forms the backbone of India’s Rs 36,000 crore TV advertising business. In the latest iteration of a policy that has often changed in the past, the government has stripped the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) of any control over how TV ratings work.TRAI, originally exclusively the telecom regulator, was given oversight over TV ratings in 2012 as part of a policy rejig during the previous UPA government’s tenure. By then, it had also been given charge over some aspects of broadcast regulation.Now, a report published on Wednesday (April 2) in Mint said the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has been placed back in control over ratings. TRAI still retains jurisdiction over channel pricing, advertising limits, interconnection and distribution rules, service quality and compliance standards (the broadcast regulation aspects of its role).What it is no longer in charge of, going by the Mint report, is determining how ratings agencies will track TV viewing habits and other aspects of ratings. The results of this tracking of viewer habits – known as TRP ratings – determines what channels, timings and content advertisers decide to pour their money into. TRAI’s oversight was withdrawn by not referring to it any more in the policy document, the Mint report suggests. As a result, the power vests solely with the MIB.A government insider Mint spoke to for its story said the ministry could modify TRAI’s decisions even when it was in charge of regulating broadcasting. A former Prasar Bharti CEO also told the newspaper the MIB has continued to regulate rating agencies through guidelines, by issuing licenses and holding them accountable.But TRAI did play a role in matters related to broadcasting. One crucial decision it took was to limit advertising minutes to 12 per hour, after an outcry over channels syncing long minutes of advertising, denying viewers choice. It is yet to be known how the MIB deals with this issue, now that it has exclusive power over regulating rating agencies, who drive both advertising budgets and choices.For some, TRAI represented an element of independent oversight – even as a government agency – creating a layer of accountability beyond the ministry and privately-owned TV channels.“Even if the government has the powers, merging regulation with policy and removing an independent regulator from oversight is a retrograde step,” Satya N. Gupta, former principal advisor at TRAI told Mint.But TRAI’s oversight was not always welcomed. When in March 2012 it released a “consultation paper” on quantitative regulation of advertisements on television, it was seen to overlap with the ASCI’s advertising code. Later, its detailed “recommendations” on not just Television Audience Measurement and Ratings but also ownership of news channels, “paid news” and so on, raised concerns it was interfering rather than regulating.To be fair, TV ratings as well as the agencies have remained controversial regardless of the shifting regulatory stands. At one point, MIB simply sought “clarifications” from the agencies as reports came in of growing public mistrust of both ratings and agencies. This trend has intensified with the BARC controversy in which, for the first time, officials of the rating agency are being prosecuted for allegedly faking ratings.