House of Oversight Sets Date for Arbitron Hearing

In the US, the House of Oversight & Government Reform Committee Chairman Ed Towns has set a date for a hearing, to consider rating giant Arbitron's PPM (Personal People Meter) and its 'effect on diversity in radio broadcasting'.

In June, the GAO (Government Accountability Office) was asked to study the PPM and its effect on advertising revenue streams for radio stations, following complaints from broadcasters alleging that flaws in the PPM were resulting in the undercounting of minority groups.

Arbitron committed to co-operating with the investigation, but then prevented the Media Ratings Council (MRC) from providing the committee with any documents related to the PPM.

News of the hearing - which will take place on December 2 - is applauded by the PPM Coalition, which asserts that Arbitron has 'forced' the PPM system on the radio marketplace, despite persistent problems with sampling and recruitment for minority communities.

PPM Coalition members include nine organizations including the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies (AHAA), the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council and the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters (NABOB) as well as a number of minority broadcasters.

'Arbitron continues to move ahead with its planned rollout of PPM, which may cause devastating financial effects on Hispanic broadcasters and agencies, and eventually may mean the demise of many cultural stations,' says Gisela Girard, AHAA Chair. 'We are very concerned about the impact on our industry and will continue to support the efforts to reform PPM measurement and push for MRC accreditation.'

PPM has so far failed to gain MRC accreditation in the largest markets serving African Americans and Hispanics.

In a statement, Arbitron President and CEO Michael Skarzynski said he welcomes the opportunity to discuss the effectiveness of the PPM service, the value of the data it produces, and the firm's approach to the deployment of the service.

'Arbitron launched this media ratings service to help support the radio industry's objective to have relevant, reliable data that enables it to compete for its share of advertising revenue,' stated Skarzynski. 'We continue to welcome opportunities to showcase the value of radio and the importance of electronic measurement.'

Web site: www.arbitron.com .