• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, January 7, 2009

Arbitron has struck deals with the attorneys general of New York and New Jersey that will settle the lawsuits filed in October 2008 alleging violations of executive, business, and civil rights statutes, the company announced Wednesday.

The New York settlement calls for Arbitron to pay $260,000 to settle claims and costs, with $100,000 going to the National Association of Black-Owned Broadcasters and Spanish Radio Association to support minority broadcasters.

Arbitron will also pay $130,000 to the New Jersey attorney general's office to cover costs in the case. Finally, the settlement involves a number of concessions sought by the state attorneys general to improve the quality of sampling for minority audiences in ratings produced by Arbitron's Portable People Meter, a passive electronic measurement device.

These include: recruiting panelists through both telephone and address-based sampling beginning this month, with the address-based sampling contributing 15% of recruitment efforts in New York State by July 2010; increasing the sample target for cell-phone-only households to 15% of the total sample by that date; achieving the same benchmark in the metro area around Philadelphia (a major broadcast source to New Jersey) by January 2011; set a target of 20% for the Sample Performance Indicator by 2011 in both markets, with a minimum of 15% by July 2009, increasing thereafter; and take reasonable measures to achieve in-tab rates of at least 75% in both markets for all sample subgroups (representing different demographic, gender and ethnic cohorts).

Arbitron also agreed to provide subscribers with installed and in-tab sample figures by individual ZIP codes in the New York and Philadelphia markets, and fund an ad campaign promoting minority radio in the radio trade press.

Finally, the company agreed to "make all reasonable efforts to obtain and retain accreditation for the New York PPM radio ratings service from the Media Rating Council." Both attorneys general reserve the right to renew the legal proceedings if Arbitron fails to achieve this accreditation by October 15, 2009.

In the past, Arbitron has said it is committed to obtaining MRC accreditation in all the markets where PPM ratings are used as currency for media transactions. The company said it would not try to obtain MRC accreditation before the service is commercialized, as many broadcasters demanded.

When New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo first brought the lawsuit in October, demanding that Arbitron delay commercialization of PPM ratings in New York on the grounds that they violated New York State civil rights laws. Arbitron responded by moving up the commercialization date as the case went to court, attempting to deliver a fait accompli.

Cuomo then upped the ante by opening an investigation of alleged insider trading by Arbitron executives--who were said to have sold stock in the company shortly before announcing a delay in the rollout of PPM service, which caused the stock price to drop. Wednesday's announcement included no mention of the insider-trading investigation, which appears to be proceeding.