• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, October 29, 2010

Looking to be a pacesetter in set-top-box research, Rentrak has a deal giving it more boxes to skim data. The arrangement with Midcontinent Communications provides a fourth data producer, even as many of the box owners are reluctant to sell access to research firms.

Cable operator Midcontinent serves homes in the Dakotas and Minnesota. The cable industry trade group lists it as the 22nd-largest multichannel video provider.

Rentrak has deals with Dish Network, AT&T U-verse and Charter Communications to use their STB data to generate second-by-second ratings in all 210 markets. Midcontinent is its second cable operator.

The data Rentrak collects is used as a base for both a national ratings product and one tailored to local markets. Stations in markets where Nielsen produces ratings from diaries may have a particular interest, since the Rentrak data comes in more frequently than four times a year.

It is unclear exactly how many boxes Midcontinent will give Rentrak access to, or where the homes are located. But the cable operator serves households in diary markets Sioux Falls, S.D. (DMA 112), Bismarck, N.D. (157) and Rapid City, S.D. (173).

Rentrak's STB-based ratings products have been on sale for some time, but data was only culled from AT&T until this fall, when it began incorporating data from Dish and Charter, where it has access in four markets.

The research company is guarded about saying how many boxes it has access to, although the number is a subset of the full footprints of each operator. Rentrak does say that even in the country's smallest markets, it can look at data from about 2,000 boxes.

In cases where Dish may be the only operator it works with, results from other markets are studied; Rentrak also uses modeling to help it develop its ratings and viewer information. In local markets, where Nielsen does not provide commercial ratings, Rentrak can offer insight into viewer retention during breaks.