erinMedia Rallies Behind F.A.I.R. Ratings Act

erinMedia Rallies Behind F.A.I.R. Ratings Act

Joins Powerful National Association of Broadcasters' Support of Bill That Would Provide Oversight to Ratings Industry Dominated By Nielsen Monopoly

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., July 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Television ratings provider erinMedia today expressed its support of the F.A.I.R. Ratings Act, becoming the first television ratings provider to support the bill. Introduced by Senator Conrad Burns of Montana, the bill, S. 1372, would task the Media Ratings Council ("MRC") with accrediting all new forms of television ratings, including ratings services to be deployed by erinMedia.

erinMedia sent letters of support to Senator Conrad Burns and Senator Mel Martinez of Florida on July 19, 2005. The full text of the letters can be accessed at www.erinMedia.net or www.WeShouldALLCount.com. The company's statement follows the July 22 announcement by the National Association of Broadcasters ("NAB") that it, too, supports the bill. Both erinMedia and the NAB cite the general lack of competition among ratings providers as the primary reason that the Act's ratification is warranted and required.

The F.A.I.R. Ratings Bill was brought to the forefront by a groundswell of support for the belief that there are inaccuracies in reporting Hispanic and African American ratings. As quoted in the July 19 letters, erinMedia's CEO and Chairman, Frank Maggio correlates these inaccuracies to Nielsen's small and unrepresentative sample set. " ... (Nielsen's) approach is preposterous - it fails to acknowledge or capture the similarities between races, and the differentiation within races."

Beyond a call for accreditation, Maggio cites clauses within the Bill that elevate it to being a "mandate" for a popular-vote approach to ratings. "The Bill compels ratings providers to deliver products that are 'as accurate, proportionate, and fully representative a manner as possible.' Because Nielsen's existing products are not inclusive, nor fully representative of America, I believe they realize that polling 7,800 households -- or even 20,000 households -- recruited only from the minority of American homes that would even let them in the door -- will not meet the underlying premise of the Bill. Instead of embracing change and the idea of competition, they choose to spin this as over-regulation, a threat to local jobs, or even an anti-trust matter. Fortunately for those of us seeking 21st century solutions, their habit of ignoring 99.99% of all Americans, in the day and age of digital set top box data availability, is a premise that will not survive the next 18 months." Maggio adds that his company, while it will be burdened by the additional costs and delays of accreditation, is prepared to submit to the MRC scrutiny, "in exchange for the order and consistency it will provide to an industry that has been strong-armed by the Nielsen monopoly for far too long."

Even after revealing systemic flaws in either or both of Nielsen's Washington D.C. May 2005 set meter diary, and the unaccredited LPM data, erinMedia was met with only reluctant, whispered support by the broadcast and advertising sectors. "The main reason is that Nielsen has stripped all hope of there being any alternative that would replace them, leaving everyone with the unfortunate fear that if the proverbial 'emperor' is dethroned without an heir apparent, their will be no currency." Maggio opines that erinMedia, and other companies willing and able to take on the Nielsen monopoly, "can provide hope -- and solutions -- once the market is opened up to competition. Using the 'emperor' analogy, if you expose that he has no clothes, you have to be able to provide him with wooden shoes and sackcloth before ushering him to the door."

On June 16th, erinMedia joined "reactive" cable and satellite network ReacTV in a landmark antitrust lawsuit against Nielsen Media Research (NMR). In their complaint, the companies cited NMR's practice of using long-term staggered contracts with broadcast networks, and its attempted or announced acquisition of potential competitors, such as erinMedia or AudioAudit, respectively. For more information about this lawsuit, please visit www.WeShouldALLCount.com.

About erinMedia:

erinMedia, LLC is a privately held media research company founded in 1999, to better understand television audience behavior in all its forms -- cable, broadcast, satellite, linear, non-linear, and interactive. With over 135 patent-pending claims, erinMedia's proprietary IDM(TM) methodology combines privacy-compliant tuning data passively collected from advanced set-top boxes, with independently gathered demographic data. erinMedia produces accurate, near-census based, and timely next-day minute-by-minute analysis into audience composition and viewing behavior -- without the use of personally identifiable viewer information. Its planned acquisition of Navigauge's assets and intellectual property, announced in July of 2005, will elevate erinMedia to being the only American company poised to provide sector-specific, passive rating services to the television, radio, and outdoor advertising industries. Navigauge will allow erinMedia to provide demographic, second-by-second radio ratings products, and board-specific outdoor advertising demographic ratings products, through analysis of data collected using patent-pending passive monitoring and GPS-based devices installed in panel members' vehicles. For more information, please visit www.erinMedia.net or call 941.739.4500. erinMedia is an entity of The Frank Maggio Companies. For more information on The Frank Maggio Companies, please visit www.FrankMaggio.com.

Source: erinMedia, LLC

CONTACT: Dawn Dixon, Communications Director, +1-727-828-3688, ext. 305,
or cell, +1-727-776-0025, or dd@fmtvi.com

Web site: http://www.frankmaggio.com/
http://www.erinmedia.net/
http://www.weshouldallcount.com/

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