PPM Coalition welcomes Congressional interest

0

Since it was members of the PPM Coalition who asked Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-NY) to get his House Oversight and Government Reform Committee involved in the Portable People Meter (PPM) controversy, it is hardly surprising that the Coalition is praising Towns for asking for information about Arbitron’s PPM.


“The PPM Coalition applauds Chairman Towns’ decision to launch an investigation into Arbitron’s Portable People Meter (PPM) system. The PPM system clearly suffers from serious flaws that lead to intolerable underrepresentation of minority radio audiences. This unaccredited system is severely undermining diversity on our airwaves,” the group said in a statement.

“The PPM Coalition looks forward to working with Chairman Towns and other members of the committee , the FCC and other stakeholders to address the flaws in the PPM system. In the meantime, we once again call on Arbitron to act responsibly and suspend further roll out of the PPM system in any market without Media Rating Council (MRC) accreditation, and to reinstate a parallel diary-based ratings system in markets where the PPM system is already in use but is unaccredited by the MRC. We continue to support the goal of an electronic measurement system that accurately represents all radio listeners and we stand ready to work with all stakeholders in the radio industry toward that objective. However, until that goal is reached, Arbitron must take action to mitigate the harms caused by the introduction of the current flawed PPM system,” said the PPM Coalition.

The PPM Coalition is composed of the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters, the Spanish Radio Association, the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies, and five radio group owners: Border Media, Entravision, Univision, SBS and Inner City Broadcasting.

Also calling for Congress to investigate PPM is the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners. In fact, they seem to want everybody to investigate PPM – a list that includes not only Congress and the FCC, but the Florida Legislature, Florida Public Service Commission and Florida Attorney General. At the state level, the Miami-Dade Commissioners want a state law in Florida that would ensure that PPM doesn’t undercount minority listeners.