Monday, March 11, 2013

Report: FTC Gets Nosey About Arbitron-Nielsen

The Federal Trade Commission today asked for additional information from Nielsen and Arbitron regarding their proposed merger, the companies said.

According to a story at adage.com, The request could indicate regulatory complications that will prolong the closing of the merger.

Nielsen withdrew and modified its original notification to the FTC last month hoping to forestall a so-called "second request" for information. After the companies comply with its request, the FTC will have 30 days to make a decision. It's unclear how long the companies will need to get the necessary information.

Nielsen agreed to pay Arbitron $131 million, more than 10% of the proposed $1.26 billion purchase price, should the deal not get anti-trust approval -- an unusually high regulatory breakup fee.

But Nielsen CEO David Calhoun has expressed confidence the deal will be approved, despite his company's dominance of U.S. TV ratings and Arbitron's similar dominance in radio ratings, saying they have little overlap.

However, some industry executives, who spoke not for attribution, believe the combined companies could monopolize the still nascent market for cross-platform measurement that put TV, radio, digital, print, outdoor and other media on a common metric.

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