SBS and Arbitron Agree Ceasefire

According to a filing lodged with the New York Supreme Court, Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS) and ratings giant Arbitron are working towards a truce regarding their PPM legal dispute.

The argument kicked off last year when SBS refused to pay a $2.5m licence fee to Arbitron, after claiming that the firm's PPM (Portable People Meter) service was undercounting its ethnic minority listeners.

In December, Arbitron stopped providing SBS with PPM ratings, and the broadcaster responded by ceasing to encode its broadcasts.

In February, New York State Supreme Court Judge Shirley Kornreich ordered SBS to continue its PPM encoding, but then lifted the temporary order, when SBS again pulled the encoders from its stations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and Miami.

As stated in the filing (dated April 12), the firms are now working together to settle their differences, and Arbitron says it hopes to finalize an out-of-court settlement within the next few weeks.

SBS re-installed encoders in on April 8, and settlement papers are currently being drafted.

Web sites: www.arbitron.com and www.spanishbroadcasting.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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