Arbitron To Include Noncomms In Fall 2006 Survey; Delays Satellite Channel Reporting

Effective with the release of the fall 2006 survey, public and noncommercial radio stations will be eligible for reporting in ARBITRON's local market ratings reports. The company says these stations will need to meet the same minimum reporting standards that currently are applied to commercial radio stations.

In addition, ARBITRON says it's deferring its previously discussed plans to report individual satellite-radio channels (NET NEWS 7/28). The company wants to further refine the rules for crediting satellite-radio entries, including the rules for handling diary entries that could be assigned to either satellite or over-the-air stations.

"As an example, we want to test the rules necessary to assign entries such as NFL football or MLB baseball, since these programs are broadcast on both over-the-air radio and satellite," says ARBITRON VP/Product Management & Client Services BRAD FELDHAUS.

The company hopes to begin reporting individual satellite-radio channels in its survey reports at some point in 2007. What's more, the inside of the diary cover for the fall 2006 survey has been updated to incorporate Internet/satellite instructions and to modify the language describing the term "listening."

Meanwhile, starting with the winter 2007 survey, ARBITRON will begin collecting HD RADIO facilities' information as part of the station-information collection process. The winter 2007 station-information forms will mail in NOVEMBER.

« see more Net News