PPM Coalition, Arbitron Submit Comments To FCC

The Federal Communications Commission received a handful of filings in response to its request for comment on investigating the effect of Arbitron's portable people meter on minority ownership. A second round of comments are due Oct. 6, two days before Arbitron is scheduled to commercialize PPM in eight markets including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Francisco. The PPM Coalition, made up of the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters, the Spanish Radio Association, the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council, the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies, Border Media Partners, Entravision, ICBC Broadcast Holdings, Spanish Broadcasting System and Univision filed Wednesday (Sept. 24). Arbitron filed a rebuttal. The Coalition argued that the PPM methodology undercounts minority radio listeners and that the rollout of PPM methodology starting Oct. 8 in eight markets will seriously harm minority broadcasting and defeat the Commission's diversity goals. The Coalition wants the FCC to "undertake a fact-finding inquiry, using subpoenas for document production and conducting witness testimony under oath." In its rebuttal, Arbitron said it "cited extensive precedent in which both Congress and the Commission have previously recognized that the FCC lacks authority to regulate audience ratings. Both Congress and the Commission have expressly stated that the reliability and methodologies of audience ratings services are best left to private industry groups such as the Media Rating Council, Inc."