Can radio and TV share ratings?

Phil Rosenthal of the Chicago Tribune thinks Arbitron's PPM may spur a new wave of cooperation between television and radio broadcasters. Digital television stations may spend a good bit of their time on air sending out multiple streams of programming, which will open the door for a possible partnership with their audio-only neighbors.

If one of the channels is not audio-dependent, say a weather radar display with a news crawl underneath, why not partner with a local radio station to provide audio concurrently? The possible scenarios are numerous, and Rosenthal found that members of both the radio and television communities in Chicago are already exploring them. This is up to and including letting a radio station have a side channel all to itself, providing video of their air staff doing pulling their shifts just as Don Imus was doing on MSNBC.

RBR/TVBR observation: The likelihood is that such a scenario would be much like the relationship between radio and recording companies that the recording companies are now trying to destroy via their quest for performance royalties. TV would get inexpensive content; radio would get promotional value; and both would register a few hits on PPM receptors. It's something to keep in mind as the digital era moves forward.

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