Sunbeam Sues Nielsen Over LPM 'Defects'

In the US, Nielsen is facing a lawsuit brought by Sunbeam Television Corporation, over claims that the ratings firm is understating the broadcaster's TV audiences.

Sunbeam, which owns WSVN-TV, says that Nielsen is overcharging for its services while jeopardizing the TV station's ad efforts by underreporting ratings in ethnically diverse areas such as Miami and Fort Lauderdale.

The firm has asked the US District Court in Miami to declare the ratings company an illegal monopoly, and claims it is costing the channel $1m a month.

The broadcaster says Nielsen is producing 'defective, wildly inaccurate ratings data' which has reduced its value by $100m in the last six months. It has asked the court to find Nielsen in violation of both federal and state antitrust law, and has asked for unspecified damages, which reports say are likely to be as much as $300m.

In response, Nielsen says the case is utterly without merit: 'The TV ratings we are providing to Miami are more accurate than any previous measurement of this market, and our sample is representative of the Miami population,' stated a spokesperson for the group.

The main focus of the lawsuit is the way Nielsen is now measuring TV audiences using its local people meter (LPM) technology. Critics say this has produced higher ratings for cable channels and lower ones for broadcast stations, while also undercounting minority viewers.

LPMs were rolled out in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale market last October, since when most local broadcast stations have posted lower ratings.

'Suddenly, as of October 1, of last year about 50% of the young audience disappeared,' said Sunbeam's President Ed Ansin. He complained that the area's audience for 'American Idol' - the number one show on TV - had suddenly dropped by half under LPM measurement. 'This is impossible. Suddenly we didn't lose 50% of the audience, and nobody else in the country did? That doesn't make any sense,' Ansin said.

Last year, an anti-trust lawsuit raised by TV ratings company erinMedia against Nielsen Media Research (NMR) was dismissed by the court. Erin's Chair Frank Maggio had claimed that NMR's contracts with 'some or all' of the four largest broadcast companies made it impossible for any competitor to establish a rival TV audience measurement tool.

Web sites: www.nielsen.com and www.wsvn.com .

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

• Nielsen Media Research
• All news