Arbitron Strikes Back At New York AG Cuomo

Moving Legally Against NY AG

ARBITRON has asked the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of NEW YORK for a declaratory judgment and injunctive relief against the Attorney General for the State of NEW YORK to prevent any attempt to restrain ARBITRON’s publication of its PORTABLE PEOPLE METER listening estimates.

The Company stated that any restraint on the publication of its PPM listening estimates would have an adverse impact on the radio broadcast industry and advertising industries as a whole, would cause ARBITRON’s business to suffer severe irreparable harm, would cause economic injury to ARBITRON’s shareholders and violates the Company’s First Amendment rights to publish its radio audience listening estimates.

Among other things, the Company is seeking the following relief:

-- a judgment declaring that the publication of its PPM listening estimates is fully protected by the U.S. and NEW YORK Constitutions; and
-- a preliminary and permanent injunction along with a temporary restraining order enjoining the NEW YORK Attorney General from attempting to restrain or prevent ARBITRON from publishing its PPM listening estimates.

"ARBITRON publicly announced in NOVEMBER 2007 that we intended to commercialize our PORTABLE PEOPLE METER radio ratings service in NEW YORK with the release of the SEPTEMBER 2008 PPM survey report on OCTOBER 8th, 2008. The NEW YORK Attorney General has waited until OCTOBER 2nd, less than a week before our scheduled commercialization, to notify ARBITRON that his office intends to bring a lawsuit seeking to enjoin alleged violations of NEW YORK law. Such conduct is unfair to ARBITRON and is unfair to the radio and advertising industries. We are asking the U.S. District Court to uphold our First Amendment rights and to prevent the NEW YORK Attorney General from attempting to restrain publication of our PORTABLE PEOPLE METER listening estimates," said ARBITRON Pres./Chairman/CEO STEVE MORRIS.

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