Congress Keeps Up Pressure on Arbitron

Rep Edolphus "Ed" Towns (D-NY), Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is keeping the pressure on Arbitron to address problems with its portable people meter rating system. The chairman, who held hearings Dec. 2 on the PPM's effect on minority broadcasters, once again threatened to introduce legislation unless Arbitron, the Media Rating Council and the members of the PPM Coalition come up with a workable plan in 30 days. "It took decades of hard-fought battles to finally create diversity on the airwaves. I will not let this diversity perish overnight because of inaccurate ratings," Chairman Towns wrote in a letter dated Dec. 10.