ON THE ALTAR OF THE MRC - Stately, stumped George Ivie came from the stairhead, bearing reams of data on which a PC with spreadsheets lay crossed. A yellow legal pad, ungirdled, was sustained gently behind him by the mild morning air.

MEDIACOM TALKS TRASH, TARGETS MINDSHARE - The last time we checked in with the folks at City Media Concepts, they were just getting their new out-of-home media network off-the-ground, and were facing a fair amount of skepticism in the process. Some major agency media machers were less than enthusiastic about CMC's new outdoor media facings - not because of their locations, which happened to be in choice midtown Manhattan places - but because of were they were situated: on trash receptacles.

UPFRONTS, OUTLOOKS, GLASSES HALF-EMPTIED, AND ROSE-COLORED GLASSES - There was a bit of encouraging, or depending on your perspective, disheartening news buried in the release of an Association of National Advertisers member survey released Thursday in conjunction with its Print Advertising Forum in New York. About half (49 percent) of the marketers said they plan to boost their overall ad spending (for all media) next year, while 51 percent expect it to either stay the same (44 percent) or decrease (8 percent).

L.A. CONFIDENTIAL - Has anyone else noticed the irony of Univision choosing Los Angeles to file suit against Nielsen to block the rollout of local people meters?

ALL THE PRINT THAT'S FIT FOR THIS STINT -- With 2004-05 upfront TV negotiations reaching their 7th inning stretch, national advertisers Thursday will turn their attention to a medium that normally gets overlooked during the frenetic TV sales season: print. But when the Association of National Advertisers convenes its second annual Print Advertising Forum in New York, don't expect the nation's leading marketers to start plunking down billions of dollars in magazine and newspaper buys for next year.

THE MRC GIVETH, THE MRC TAKETH AWAY - The Media Rating Council's decision to withhold accreditation to the local people meter service in New York was a blow to Nielsen Media Research and a boon to its opponents, which went so far as to utilize the MRC's decision in a high-profile and well funded advertising campaign. Following an emergency meeting of the MRC's Television Committee last week, the MRC today issued the following statement on the matter, implying that the campaign's organizers, Don't Count Us Out, and its financial backer, News Corp.

MRC TO MADISON AVENUE: WE WANT TO COUNT YOU IN - When the Media Rating Council voted several weeks ago to withhold accreditation to Nielsen Media Research's local people meter service in New York, we were a little surprised. We knew there were some thorny issues with the sample, but we also knew that no sample is perfect and that, according to some people we respect, the new LPM sample wasn't any worse than the current meter-diary sample operating in the Big Apple.

HERE'S THE COUNT ON DON'T COUNT US OUT -- The most ironic part of Don't Count Us Out's battle with Nielsen over its local people meters, and the part that journalists covering the story have found most vexing, is that DCUO has been faulting Nielsen for its lack of "transparency" and for failing to disclose key information related to its methods and samples. The reason that's so ironic is that DCUO has been anything but transparent about its relationship with its primary financial backer News Corp.

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR - Here's a wacky scenario. Suppose for a moment that Nielsen Media Research didn't actually want to be in the minority ratings business.