Insurers Foot Most of Arbitron's $9m Legal Bill

Arbitron has revealed the cost of its various legal battles of the past two years, in a 10-Q filing for the SEC. In all, two securities law civil actions commencing in 2008, and various 'interactions' with government over the commercialization of the PPM, have cost it around $9.1m to date.

More than half is covered by insurance, the company says: as of June 30th this year it had received $5.6m in related insurance reimbursements, and it believes another $0.3m of the aggregate costs and expenses will be covered, under its Director and Officer insurance policy.

Disputes with government and its agencies include investigations by the attorneys general of three states (New York, New Jersey and Maryland), the FCC and the US Congress, leading to a settlement announced in April. The pending shareholder lawsuit is with a union retirement fund which claims the company and former CEO Steve Morris misled investors about the timetable for deploying PPM.

Last month, the radio ratings giant reported a 'better-than-expected' second quarter, with a 1.8% increase in revenue to $88.3m compared with $86.8m in the prior year period, and an 8.7% rise in profits to $3.8m.

During 2009 and 2008, Arbitron says it also incurred $2.7m in business interruption losses and damages as a result of Hurricane Ike; for which around 1.6m has been received in insurance reimbursements.

The company is online at www.arbitron.com .