I&B Ministry
I&B secretary asks union ministries to clear ad dues of media cos
MUMBAI: Information & broadcasting (I&B) ministry secretary Ravi Mittal has contacted his counterparts in several other ministers asking them to clear the dues they owe several media companies, media reports suggest. Mittal has cited the financial pressure that the media companies are facing because of the ongoing lockdown as one of the reasons.
It is being highlighted that various union ministries including telecommunications, sports, youth affairs, the departments of posts, electronics and IT, and the NITI Aayog, among others, owe at least Rs 400 crore to several media companies.
According to a Hindustan Times report, which cites having Mittal’s letters in its possession, he has underlined that it is of vital importance that all payments due to the private media sector are made to enable them to pay their employees, keep their businesses afloat and prevent layoffs.
“As you would appreciate, these media houses are also supporting the government’s efforts to communicate with its citizens during the current crisis arising due to COVID-19,” he wrote.
Mittal’s intervention comes days after the Indian Newspaper Society (INS) communicated to Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman that they are in grave danger of losing monies.
Additionally, the Advertising Agencies Association of India has also written to the I&B ministry demanding tax relief.
MUMBAI: When the numbers go silent, the noise on screen gets a little harder to measure. Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has extended the suspension of television rating data for news channels, directing Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) to withhold TRPs for another four weeks. The latest order, issued on March 31, 2026, builds on an earlier directive from March 6 that had paused ratings for a month. The ministry has clarified that the blackout will continue for four weeks or until further instructions are issued whichever comes earlier keeping the industry in a prolonged state of data drought.
The reasoning, officials suggest, lies far beyond domestic screens. With geopolitical tensions in West Asia continuing to escalate, the government has flagged concerns over how such developments could influence news consumption and presentation. The move is aimed at curbing excessive sensationalism and speculative coverage during what it describes as a sensitive global moment.
For the broadcast ecosystem, the absence of Television Rating Points (TRPs) is more than symbolic, it removes the industry’s primary scorecard. Ratings dictate advertising flows, shape editorial strategies and fuel the competitive pecking order among news channels. Without them, broadcasters are effectively operating without a public performance benchmark.
The timing only adds to the complexity. Amid a high-intensity global news cycle, channels must now navigate audience engagement without the weekly feedback loop that typically drives programming decisions. Advertisers, too, are left recalibrating, leaning on proxies such as brand strength, reach and distribution instead of hard viewership data.
While framed as a temporary regulatory intervention tied to maintaining public order, the extended suspension underscores a broader unease about the tone and direction of news coverage. For now, the ratings race is on pause but the battle for attention continues, just without a scoreboard.
