The Night(mare) Before Xmas!

[Commentary] Nielsen is buying Arbitron -- this industry nightmare must be thoroughly appraised.

Before evaluating this proposed acquisition, the U.S. regulators should open the evidence of the erinMedia vs. Nielsen antitrust suit. Anyone understanding the merits of that case would surely surmise that it would probably stop this take-over cold! ErinMedia settled out of court in their $1.5 billion (triple damages) antitrust suit (2005) against Nielsen in April 2008 before the full trial, reportedly due to Frank Maggio’s major investments in the Florida real estate market, which was starting to slide at the time. That's despite the strength of erinMedia’s case, reflected in the judge’s generally “favorable” comments and almost derision of Nielsen’s case for dismissal, following discovery as well as the damages being tripled (from $500 million) as a result of Nielsen’s directly related competitive business actions during the proceedings. Unfortunately for the industry, the evidence was sealed as a result of the settlement.

[Tony Jarvis is Research Architect at Olympic Media Consultancy]