Judge Throws Out Arbitron's Federal Lawsuit

In the US, a federal judge has rejected Arbitron's federal lawsuit aimed at blocking New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's attempts to halt commercialization of the firm's new radio ratings system, while allowing Cuomo's state filing to proceed against Arbitron.

The Attorney General announced in early September that he was investigating the accuracy of Arbitron's audience estimates, which the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies and a group of minority radio broadcasters say do not adequately represent African-Americans and Hispanics in the US.

Arbitron then brought the case against Cuomo's office, to attempt to prevent him from stopping the publication of its audience estimates. At the same time, it published PPM numbers for New York, two days ahead of schedule.

At this point, Cuomo brought a state suit against the company over alleged 'deceptive trade practices and commercial fraud statutes'.

Yesterday, US District Court Judge Denise Cote ruled in favor of the case being heard in state court.

Her ruling stated: 'The court lawsuit against Arbitron seeks to enforce the state laws against discrimination and deceptive practices. The enforcement of these laws has the potential to affect the health of the radio stations serving the minority communities in this state and may prevent data, which the Attorney General contends is unreliable and misleading, from improperly influencing critical decisions affecting businesses operating within the state.'

In a statement, Arbitron responded: 'Today's ruling does not impact our right to publish our PPM audience estimates in New York. We asked the federal court to protect our right to provide the radio industry with the up-to-date PPM audience estimates it needs. Now that Arbitron has commercialized the PPM service in New York and other key markets, we look forward to defending our interests.'

Web site: www.arbitron.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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