Univision Files Lawsuit Against Nielsen LPM Implementation.

Univision Communications Inc. announced that it has filed a lawsuit in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles, against Nielsen Media Research in connection with Nielsen’s planned implementation of its Local People Meter (LPM) television rating service in Los Angeles on July 8, 2004. Univision is seeking: 1) to enjoin Nielsen from engaging in unfair, unlawful and deceptive business practices by launching its LPM service in Los Angeles utilizing flawed sampling and weighting methodologies; 2) to enjoin Nielsen’s false and misleading advertising with respect to its LPM data; and 3) damages for trade libel.

Nielsen’s own data indicates that the sample on which it is basing its LPM ratings is fundamentally flawed, as it dramatically undercounts young Hispanic Americans and large Hispanic families and overstates Hispanic American households that speak mostly or only English. As a consequence of these flaws, the LPM ratings will materially understate viewing to Spanish-language stations like Univision, and exaggerate viewing to English-language stations, causing irreparable damage to Univision.

In addition, Nielsen has engaged in false and misleading advertising and promotion of its LPM sample and weighting methodologies to both customers and the public, and will continue to do so with the pending launch of the LPM service in Los Angeles. Such false and misleading advertising and promotion by Nielsen directly harms Univision’s relationships with advertisers, and harms competition, by giving false credibility to the LPM sample and subsequent ratings upon which advertising transactions with all broadcasters are based.

Furthermore, Nielsen has already published and disseminated to its existing customers the preliminary ratings from its new LPM service in Los Angeles and New York, knowingly utilizing the faulty and deceptive sampling and methodology. These ratings, coupled with Nielsen’s disingenuous public statements that its new sampling techniques produce accurate ratings data, falsely disparage Univision and its business by underreporting its actual viewing ratings.

“Nielsen data is the only industry measuring tool that is available to guide advertisers in placing their television dollars, and where those dollars get placed directly affects the ability of television networks and stations to develop and air quality information and entertainment programming for their audiences,” said Ray Rodriguez, President of the Univision Television Networks. “The sample and the weighting technique currently employed in Nielsen’s proposed Los Angeles LPM system – just as in its New York LPM system – will result in a seriously flawed measuring tool and, as a result, Hispanic media and the Hispanic community in general will be unfairly prejudiced.”

“While we are fully supportive of appropriate use of the LPM technology, the sample on which Nielsen’s LPM ratings are based does not accurately represent the composition of the Hispanic-American population,” said Ceril Shagrin, Senior Vice President, Corporate Research, Univision Communications Inc. “As a result, the LPM data will not only provide false guidance to advertisers and marketers, it will mask the market’s diversity and jeopardize the future availability of news and entertainment programming dedicated to minority audiences. It is imperative that Nielsen take responsibility for fairness and accuracy of its methodologies and take immediate action to repair its LPM sample before implementation so that our industry is not forced to rely on substandard, inaccurate ratings information.”