The Arbitron $4 – $6 Million PPM broom to sweep their PPM issues away.

  According to Arbitron in this week’s investor call, they admitted that the legal fees to overcome the problems with the PPM in Q4 2008 cost between $4 to $6 million dollars to resolve the legal challenges to the PPM system by the NY Attorney General (AG) and the NJ  Attorney General (AG).  This does not include the minuscule amount of about $400K being paid to cover the legal  fees of interested parties defending the minority broadcasters and agency interest.

Sean Creamer – Arbitron CFO stated that he does not believe that the agreements with the NY AG and the NJ  AG will fundamentally alter their business plan.

Thus, the NY AG and the NJ AG issues (along with our Industry concerns about the PPM) and the agreements really do not change anything that Arbitron had already done or was planning on doing with the PPM or the business model.

Arbitron just paid $4 – $6 Million to make it go away with high-powered and connected lawyers.  For a publicly owned company it is just a drop in the bucket.

I know for a fact that our industry of Hispanic broadcasters, Hispanic agencies and other interested parties DID NOT have a $4 – $6 Million war chest to fight for our rights.

Now that agreements has been reached and Arbitron has made some promises, does this really take our interest as an Industry into account?

Are their any controls or oversight in place to ensure that the agreements really happen?

Did we just get sold down the river by the NY AG and the NJ AG?

With all the corruption in Washington DC, at the local and state levels and amongst many politicians and Wall Street executives. During a time where everything goes and the moral decay of American society and business ethics is the new acceptable norm.

I wonder.

Did we just get screwed como lechon en barra?

Couldn’t they just have spent the $4 – $6 Million in improving the service and address the concerns we were interested in improving as an Industry?

What do you think?

Gene Bryan
CEO – HispanicAd.com

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