• Mediaweek, Wednesday, May 30, 2007 10:30 AM

Media agencies relying on commercial ratings to make upfront deals are upset that some cable nets have told them that other buyers are willing to settle for program ratings. Some buyers said they were told that Viacom and NBCU channels will deal only on program ratings -- and that MPG, Carat and OMD had agreed to it.

But MPG and Carat deny they gave in: "It is not our preference to do program-ratings deals with cable networks," says Bill McOwen, director of media investments at MPG, adding that any buys made on cable will "take commercial ratings into consideration."

For Andy Donchin, director of national broadcast at Carat Americas, "negotiating deals based on commercial ratings is more necessary with cable than broadcast because of the length of their commercial pods and the amount of tune-out during commercials."

Read the whole story at Mediaweek »