• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, February 4, 2013

There is a belief that government approval of the proposed Nielsen-Arbitron merger may take some time.

Arbitron said after talks with the Federal Trade Commission, the two companies “have agreed to voluntarily provide the FTC with additional time” to consider the merger.

Nielsen will re-file a document starting a 30-day time period for initial review again. The filing deadline is March 8, unless the FTC asks for added information or takes other action.

There have been questions whether the merger might be problematic, since both companies are looking to develop cross-platform measurement systems, one of the hottest areas in media research.

However, Nielsen is not in the same business as Arbitron’s core radio ratings measurement. Arbitron has developed the Portable People Meter and the PPM 60, new technologies for media and marketing research.