Judge Rejects Arbitron Countersuit

A U.S. District Court rejected Arbitron’s bid to stop New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s lawsuit that claims data collected from the radio research firm’s Portable People Meter is flawed and its ratings damaging to some broadcasters.

The court ruled Oct. 27 that Cuomo’s allegations of deceptive practices, discrimination and civil rights violations raised issues that are important to the state, according to Radio Ink.

Arbitron was seeking a temporary restraining order and injunction to stop the AG’s interference but said in a statement the ruling won’t “impact Arbitron’s right to publish our Portable People Meter audience estimates in New York.”

Arbitron was accused of putting the pager-sized PPM, which measures radio habits of individuals in a sample audience in 10 markets, into use before some bugs were worked out. It was also accused of reporting ratings to broadcasters that didn’t include African Americans, Latinos and non-English speakers.