Arbitron Says FCC Has ''No Authority'' Over PPM

RADIO ONLINE | , , | :am CT

In a filing with the FCC, Arbitron says the Commission has "absolutely no authority" to impose regulations on Arbitron's new Portable People Meter (PPM) technology that measures radio station listening habits. The ratings giant says Congress has considered "on multiple occasions" whether to put media audience measurement services under federal government regulation, and just as often has rejected doing so.

"The Commission itself has concluded that it lacks jurisdiction over services such as Arbitron," the company said in the filing. "There is no provision in the Communications Act of 1934 that grants such authority to the Commission, and the courts have repeatedly rebuffed attempts by the Commission to assert jurisdiction over specific kinds of communications-related activities that are not themselves addressed in the Act."

Arbitron said that the contents of its FCC filing would demonstrate not only the agency's lack of jurisdiction, but that the PPM service represents significant technological advancements over the decades-old diary system. Arbitron added that it is "actively and continuously seeking out suggestions for improvements in the PPM methodology."

Additionally, Arbitron pointed out that the radio industry is in danger of falling behind other media platforms, such as television, the Internet and personalized mobile audio delivery services (mp3/iPod). Even some forms of outdoor media are moving towards measuring their audiences using the same kind of near-passive, electronics-based methods that PPM uses.

The Arbitron filing also discussed the Media Rating Council's role after being formed some 40 years ago in response to Congressional hearings into media audience measurement services. Arbitron said its commercialization of the PPM service is both consistent with the MRC's Voluntary Code of Conduct and established industry practices by providers other than Arbitron.

When it comes to PPM, Arbitron claims that there is no consistent pattern of stations experiencing only losses in their diary-based market rankings or audience ratings. It points out that minority-targeted stations that have seen their market ranking, and/or their audience rating, fluctuate from the last diary-based report to more recent PPM-based reports, with some stations showing improvements, others staying about the same, and some showing drop-offs, but with variations from one PPM-report to the next.

Some stations that feature formats appealing to Hispanic and Black listeners have shown longer-term upward trends in their market rank and/or their audience ratings, says Arbitron, and some have not. "The facts do not support the proposition that PPM-based reports uniformly and categorically result in reductions in the reported listenership of stations that cater to minorities," the company concluded.