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News Briefs: Nielsen Nixes Portable People Meter Deal

Mar 6, 2006  •  Post A Comment

Nielsen Media Research said last week it decided not to enter into a joint venture with Arbitron to commercially deploy Arbitron’s Portable People Meter as the primary measurement tool for media ratings currency. Nielsen said the decision won’t affect its plan to proceed with Project Apollo, the market research joint venture between Nielsen and Arbitron that tracks both media exposure and product sales. Nielsen also said it will discuss licensing the PPM to measure TV viewing outside the home and pledged to communicate a plan within 90 days for providing more accurate and complete measurement of television ratings. Arbitron said it will concentrate its efforts on previously announced plans to create a PPM ratings service for radio.



New Platforms for ‘Access,’ ‘ET’

NBC Universal Domestic Television Distribution’s entertainment newsmagazine “Access Hollywood” is making daily video podcasts available through the iTunes Music Store. The podcasts will consist of “Access Hollywood” moments, extended interviews and more. The “Access” announcement comes the same week CBS announced it will offer mobile phone news alerts from CBS News and “Entertainment Tonight.” Subscribers will pay a monthly fee of 99 cents for “CBS News To Go” and $3.99 for “ET To Go.”



Spending on Big 6 Down in 2005

Measured spending on network TV fell last year for the first time since 2001, the current issue of Advertising Age reports. Freshly released figures from TNS Media Intelligence show that the Big 6 networks-ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, UPN and WB-collectively took in $22.3 billion last year, down from $22.37 billion the year before. What may well have contributed to the 0.3 percent drop was overall spending declines by a half-dozen of last year’s top 10 advertisers as measured by TNS, including Procter & Gamble, DaimlerChrysler and Johnson & Johnson. What also hurt was a cutback from network TV’s biggest spending category, the auto industry.



Feldman Re-Ups as NATPE Chief

Rick Feldman has signed a multiyear agreement to continue as president and CEO of the National Association of Television Program Executives. Mr. Feldman, who has run NATPE since April 2003, oversees day-to-day operations and planning for the association’s worldwide activities and its annual conference and exhibition.



‘Crime Watch’ Clears 70 Percent of U.S.

Syndicator Program Partners has cleared “Crime Watch,” its two-hour block of Canadian-made procedurals, in over 70 percent of the U.S. New clearances include KCOP/KTTV-TV in Los Angeles; WCVB-TV in Boston; WDCA/WTTG-TV in Washington; WFOR/WBFS-TV in Miami; KONG/KING-TV in Seattle; KMOV-TV in St. Louis; KPTV/KPDX in Portland, Ore; KUSI-TV in San Diego; WJZY/WWWB-TV in Charlotte, N.C.; WSMV-TV in Nashville, Tenn.; KMCI/KSHB-TV in Kansas City, Mo.; and WKRC-TV Cincinnati. Combined with previously announced clearances, “Crime Watch” has been sold in 18 of the top 20 and 40 of the top 50 markets.



Charlie Gibson to Be Honored by RTNDA

“Good Morning America” co-anchor Charlie Gibson, a 31-year veteran of ABC News, will receive the Paul White Award from the Radio-Television News Directors Association at a dinner April 24 during the RTNDA@NAB convention in Las Vegas.



Galan to Develop NBCU Telenovelas

NBC Universal Television Group has signed a two-year first-look development deal with Galan Entertainment to adapt and produce telenovelas and other Spanish-language formats in English across NBCU’s networks. The companies will use the existing assets of the novela production system used by NBCU’s Spanish-language network Telemundo. Telemundo will license all its formats, in addition to other acquired formats, to Galan to redevelop the shows into English-language programming.



Lieberman Joins Sony Television

Cynthia Lieberman has joined Sony Pictures Television as VP of media relations. She reports to Robert Oswaks, executive VP of marketing. Ms. Lieberman will handle publicity efforts for the company’s syndication fare, including Sony’s debuting first-run strips “The Greg Behrendt Show” and “Judge Maria Lopez.”