• by Joe Mandese , April 7, 2005

In an apparent rebuff of Nielsen's local people meter critics, the Federal Trade Commission Wednesday responded to a request from members of Congress to weigh-in on the tumultuous debate surrounding the TV audience measurement service, concluding that Nielsen's practices were neither "deceptive" nor "anticompetitive" and that the agency saw no need for government regulation of its process. But the statement, which came in the form of letters to members of Congress from FTC Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras, side-stepped an even more fundamental question: whether the FTC has a direct role in overseeing the TV ratings business.

In her letter, Majoras seemed to imply it did not. "Absent deceptive or unfair practices, it would not be within the commission's authority to impose quality standards for accuracy in audience measurement."

Majoras also said the commission's probe found that Nielsen was working with the industry's self-regulatory group, the Media Rating Council, to correct problems with its audience measurement.

But that's not what some members of Congress, nor the MRC itself, have asked to resolve. In January, a joint letter signed by most members of the MRC, called on Congress and the FTC to "actively reaffirm the role and mission of the MRC," which was established in 1963 as a result of the Harris Committee Hearings, and that the MRC and "appropriate governmental organizations should establish a periodic communication linkage to allow for more continuous interaction."

The MRC also asked the FTC to "reaffirm Nielsen Media Research's 'consent' to the MRC accreditation process," and that the FTC should help "establish a voluntary code of conduct for Nielsen Media Research, which specifies ground-rules for interaction with the MRC accreditation process."

In fact, the original Harris Commission report, which stopped short of forming a federal regulatory authority to oversee ratings in deference to the MRC, originally stated that coordination of law enforcement by the FTC and the Federal Communications Commission was "vital if proper practices with regard to ratings are to prevail."

At least one lawmaker, Senator Conrad Burns, in a letter to Chairman Majoras, said that many of the improvements Nielsen is making and its current level of cooperation with the MRC are due to the scrutiny brought on Nielsen by News Corp.-backed pressure group Don't Count Us Out and members of Congress.

"With this in mind, your focus on a rather narrow "deceptive and unfair practice" standard regarding the FTC's role was somewhat disappointing," Burns wrote to Majoras, adding that he did believe that it was in the FTC's purview to oversee "monopolies" where the "public interest requires it." He said he planned to hold another Congressional hearing later this year about TV ratings and "will not hesitate to introduce new legislation" to change the way the government regulates the business if it proves in the public interest to do so.

Nielsen, meanwhile, implied Majoras' statement was the end of the matter and it its own statement said its local people meter opponents should "drop their self-serving fight against Nielsen and work cooperatively with us in the MRC."

The MRC issued no statement, but a Nielsen spokesman concluded, "In my opinion, this is a sweeping rebuff to media tycoon [News Corp.'s] Rupert Murdoch and his attempt to get the federal government to regulate the TV ratings business. He is pouring millions of dollars into this PR and lobbying effort... and that's not likely to stop. It would appear, however, from this letter that Murdoch's effort to get the FTC directly involved in the TV ratings business has failed."