BARC India moves on intentional switch-off of watermark

BARC India has revised its policy regarding intentional watermark switch off by a subscriber, which will supersede all other policies in this regard. 

According to BARC, any missing watermark for a duration greater than 12 hours, which cannot be resolved by the subscriber, would be treated as a case of intentional switch off. In such cases, BARC India’s Technical Team would establish the same and report such cases to the Management. The Management would certify the incidence to be a case of intentional switch off and report the same to the Chairman and the CEO of BARC India. 

The Chairman and the CEO would jointly decide to proceed with a response from BARC India. 

The response to such incidences will include:

• BMW data of the channel(s) for which the watermark has been switched off will not be released at any point for the period when the watermark is missing. 
• Subscriber login for the network would be deactivated from the moment intentional switch off has been established. 
• Once the watermark is switched on, both BMW data for the channel and subscriber login for the network would not be available for a further period of 6 months.