Police conclude rating raids

ISTANBUL - Anatolia News Agency

DHA photo

Police raids of production firms and the ABG Nielsen Company concluded yesterday as part of an operation regarding allegations of irregularities in the rating measurements of television channels.

Teams from the anti-organized crime desk put the documents they have collected into sacks and sealed them after the raid at company offices. Documents were taken to the anti-organized crime desk to be inspected. 

The raids, which targeted the offices of numerous production firms and the AGB Nielsen Company, which measures ratings, were part of an investigation launched following a complaint from the state-owned broadcaster Turkish Radio and Television (TRT) for alleged tampering with television ratings. So far nine people in Ankara and Istanbul were detained as part of the operation.

The suspects are accused of giving gifts to television viewers with measurement devices to keep the ratings of particular shows high. Meanwhile, Hidayet Karaca head of the Television Watching Monitoring Committee (TİAK), of which members are advertisers, TV representatives and independent bodies, was called into Istanbul Police Department. 

“It must be discovered how and by whom this information was leaked and whether anybody used it. This system has to be a reliable one. If there is doubt in the system, all of us will suffer from that,” Karaca said as he was leaving the police station.