Florida files suit against Arbitron, alleges bias - South Florida Business Journal:

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in an effort to stop the releasw of what the state attorneuy generalcalls “flawed radio station The , filed in Miami-Dadde County Circuit Court by Attorney General Bill alleges that Arbitron’s sampling methodology “significantly undercounts” minority listeners, and that the “flawed ratings … threaten the viability of ratio stations … that air programmingb targeted at those minorities.” Arbitronh solicits listeners intended to be representative of the market beingb measured.
They agree to have their radiio listening monitored through Portable PeopleMeters (PPMs), which recore encoded transmissions in radio frequencies detecter in the vicinity of the device. Arbitron then converts the data into ratingas of the radio stations in that Those ratings are expected to be releaser laterthis week. Advertisers rely on the ratings to determine where to buy The lawsuit allegesthat Arbitron’zs PPM service produces unreliable ratings becaus e it fails to recruit minorities as panelists and, fails to use sufficient data from minorities to calculate The suit claims that Arbitron has produced ratings in the Miami area market based on the new methodologyu that “show significant decreases for several minorit broadcasters, especially given the fact that certain minority broadcasters are not subscribing to this methodology and are thus excludedf from the ratings.
” Advertising agencies have already begujn contacting numerous minority broadcasters in the Miami market, seeking to negotiatr a 30 percent to 50 percent discount in their rates in anticipationb of the currency ratings under Arbitron’s new methodology, the suit claims. The suit claims rating for minority broadcasters in the New York radiko market have fallen 40 percent to 60 percent sincelast “with a precipitous drop in revenue, since broadcasting revenue is directlt related to ratings.” In Arbitron settled lawsuits filed in New York and New Jersey that made simila allegations.
It agreed to “substantially improve” the methodology of the Calls to Arbitron about the Florida lawsuit were notimmediately Arbitron’s PPM service is currently facing investigation by the FCC and the U.S. House of Representativess Committee on Oversight andGovernment Reform.