'I DOUBT THAT IT REQUIRES LEGISLATION' - With those words, Senator Conrad Burns (R-MT), chairman of the U.S. Senate's subcommittee on communications, adjourned a hearing today on Nielsen's implementation of the local people meter ratings system. And while the committee's record on the matter will remain open for additional comments for another two weeks, the senator's words must have come as comfort for a number of interested parties, especially Nielsen President-CEO Susan Whiting, who was grilled mercilessly by sub-committee members and challenged by opposing testimony from media company executives, including a persistent appeal from a News Corp. executive on the …

COULD A NEW MEDICOMGLOMERATE BE IN THE MAKING? - If Jon Mandel's business attire could be equated with Department of Homeland Security alert levels, then MediaCom has just gone from code red to orange. Mandel, who's been spotted wearing suits for the past three weeks (Real Media Riffs, July 13), showed up today in a sport jacket, albeit a pricey looking one, but far more casual and characteristic than the corporate garb he had been donning.

MEDIACOM-COM-COM, GOING? - Why has Jon Mandel been spotted uncharacteristically wearing a suit each day for the past three weeks up at MediaCom's New York headquarters? And what, if anything, does that have to do with a "restructuring" of the Grey Worldwide media services agency that the Riff is hearing about? And just why is the media shop restructuring at a time when so many key developments seem to be afoot, including its make-or-break pitch for Procter & Gamble's global communication planning account, the sale of its parent company Grey Worldwide, and the imminent re-positioning of its media services brand? …

WE WERE SENSING A CENSURE, JUST NOT THIS ONE -- We've been sitting around waiting to hear news of a media industry auditor censuring a member for violating its bylaws and casting new doubts on the veracity of the media business and sure enough that's what happened today. The only thing is, it wasn't the auditor (the Media Rating Council), the medium (television), or the member (News Corp.

OPENING UP INTERACTIVE TV -- One of the best signs that interactive TV isn't dead - just dormant - is the behind-the-scenes jousting that's been going on for control over interactive TV platforms. Most encouraging of all, one of those battles, a patent dispute between Walt Disney Co.

RADIO FINDS ITS WINGS, TAKES FLIGHT IN THE CITY OF ANGELS -- Lately, the TV community in Los Angeles has grown apoplectic over how its medium is measured in the market, but some recent trend data suggest the TV folks might want to spend more time tracking other media, especially the "other" broadcast medium. Radio was the fastest growing of the major ad-supported media in the market, with ad sales expanding 5.

NEW YORK POST EXCLUSIVE: "DO WE DEFEATS? TRUE MAN!" - Is that rumbling noise you're hearing the sound of presses screeching to a halt somewhere in New Jersey? Nah, it's just Alexander Hamilton, Dorothy Schiff and the fading memory of serious American newspaper journalism doing back flips somewhere six feet - but definitely not Down - Under. Syntax aside, the New York Post's banner declaration that Democratic hopeful John Kerry had tapped party has-been Richard Gephart to be his ruining mate was yet another defeat for an already ailing news industry, and maybe even for American society at large.

TALK MAY BE CHEAP, BUT ADULT 25-54 TV REACH POINTS CERTAINLY ARE NOT -- Here's a statistic that should give any self-respecting media buyer pause: Since the mid-1980s, the cost of reaching adults 25-54 via TV advertising has "quadrupled." At least, that's what media market chronicler Ed Papazian estimates has happened to the average cost per adult 25-54 rating point between the 1983-84 season, when such points fetched between $5,000 and $6,000, and today's range of $18,000 to $20,000.

OUCH! RADIO'S OUTLOOK CUT YET AGAIN -- Likening the situation to "death by a thousand cuts," the media and entertainment industry equities research group at securities firm Merrill Lynch Friday reduced its radio revenue forecast once again. The downgrade comes as forecasters, including Merrill Lynch, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Universal McCann, TNS Media Intelligence/CMR and Nielsen Monitor-Plus, have upgraded the overall outlook for the media industry.

THE 100.4 CHANNEL UNIVERSE (OR, IS IT 140.8?) - It's been a while since we've spent much time thinking about John Malone's apocryphal "500 channel universe."