The Daily Swarm

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo on Friday confirmed a lawsuit against radio ratings provider Arbitron Inc., saying the company’s new methods of tracking ratings are unfair to minority stations.

Mr. Cuomo claims Arbitron new Portable People Meters, or PPMs, are not representative of racial diversity. The service, which measures audiences in New York and other states, is a pager-like system for capturing listening habits. The PPMs replaced Arbitron’s traditional paper diaries, which have traditionally helped determine how much stations can charge for advertising on certain stations or programs.

Mr. Cuomo’s lawsuit seeks to require Arbitron to reimburse minority broadcasters who lost revenue because of the new system. It is the latest in an ongoing back-and-forth between Mr. Cuomo and Arbitron. Last week the attorney general warned the company of an imminent lawsuit, prompting Arbitron to file its own lawsuit against Mr. Cuomo on Monday. That suit sought an injunction to block Mr. Cuomo from stopping publication of PPM listening estimates.

Apparently in an attempt to avoid legal action, Arbitron also released its first official ratings from the PPMs for New York and seven other markets on Monday, two days ahead of schedule. The move was an effort to “meet our obligations to our customers and the radio industry,” Arbitron Chairman Steve Morris said at the time.