Univision and Nielsen call off the legal beagles
First Univision sued to block Nielsen from implementing Local People Meters in Los Angeles (6/11/04 TVBR #114), but an LA County Superior Court judge refused to issue a temporary injunction and LPMs began use as scheduled.
But the lawsuit went on and Nielsen countersued, claiming that Univision's lawsuit was an abuse of the courts under California's Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation (SLAPP) law.
Now both sides have agreed to withdraw their charges against the other. But while the litigation has been withdrawn, a Univision spokeswoman tells TVBR that the Spanish TV giant is still in talks with Nielsen about LPM ratings.
A Nielsen spokesman tells TVBR that Univision has asked the company to draw up a contract for it to subscribe to LPM data, but nothing has been signed yet. LPMs are currently in use in five markets. Only the Boston system is fully accredited by the Media Ratings Council, but Nielsen notes that the RMC has given conditional approval to LPMs in New York, LA and Chicago.
The accreditation process has just begun in the latest market, San Francisco. Nielsen plans to deploy LPMs in 2005 in Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Dallas and Detroit. The top ten market roll-out will be completed in 2006 with Atlanta.
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