Philippines Court Hopes for Happy Ending

In the Philippines, the Quezon City Regional Trial Court has suspended proceedings filed by broadcaster ABS-CBN against AGB Nielsen Media research, to allow the parties time to try and reach a settlement.

In December, ABS-CBN sued the ratings firm for releasing what it described as 'erroneous' TV ratings data, after an informant claimed that a competitor had hired him to approach and bribe metered households to switch to a different channel (www.mrweb.com/drno/news7720.htm ). The case was thrown out in January when the court found it to have been 'prematurely filed.'

The competitor - GMA Network - has also filed a damage suit against ABS-CBM for allegedly accusing it of tampering with AGB Nielsen's metered households.

Presiding Judge Charito Gonzales called a halt to the 63-million Pesos (c$1.5m) damage and breach of contract lawsuit in order to give both parties the chance to settle the dispute amicably before the hearing of the motion set for 7 May.

AGB Nielsen Media Research, which is a joint venture between the AGB Group and Nielsen Media Research International, is online at www.agbnielsen.com.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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