• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, February 11, 2013

Nielsen CEO David Calhoun said Monday that nothing unexpected has taken place as the company continues to work with the government to gain approval for its proposed acquisition of Arbitron. He added that he has received positive feedback from those involved in the radio business about what a combined Nielsen-Arbitron could offer.

Nielsen is working to answer regulators’ questions about how a merger would affect the marketplace. Both the company and Arbitron made a decision to give the Federal Trade Commission more time to review the matter and withdrew documents that will be re-filed to move the process along.

“So far, no surprises -- nothing around those questions that gives us any cause for concern,” Calhoun said.

He added: “We still love the deal in every way shape or form. I’ve gotten really good feedback from the marketplace and particularly from the radio side of this, mostly built around the notion of ROI metrics and reaction metrics … that demonstrate the effectiveness of radio as an advertising medium.”

When the deal was announced in December, Calhoun cited one potential benefit in offering metrics for the radio business that look for a link between listenership and product purchasing.

Nielsen said revenues in the October-December 2012 period rose 3% to $1.4 billion, which was 4% on a constant currency basis. Profit fell to $39 million from $95 million in the same period the year before.