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HR0985 |
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LRB093 22302 MKM 51375 r |
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| HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, Nielsen Media Research has a national monopoly on |
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| measuring viewership of television shows; and
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| WHEREAS, The Nielsen ratings are used to determine the |
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| amount that television stations will charge for advertising and |
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| to determine what programming content will be offered; and
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| WHEREAS, Nielsen Media Research intends to deploy Local |
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| People Meters (LPMs), a new technology, in Chicago this summer |
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| to rate television shows according to the number of viewers; |
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| and
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| WHEREAS, The use of LPMs, by Nielsen Media Research's own |
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| admission, has resulted in dramatic decline in the number of |
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| minority viewers that are counted, as demonstrated by the fact |
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| that, in tests of the LPM system in New York, the ratings |
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| declined by as much as 62% for virtually every top-rated |
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| program among African-Americans, and similar declines were |
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| seen for top-rated Spanish language networks, while |
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| programming targeted primarily to white audiences saw no such |
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| decline; and
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| WHEREAS, Nielsen Media Research initially delayed the |
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| deployment of LPMs in New York based on complaints about the |
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| undercounting of minorities, but now has refused to delay the |
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| deployment of LPMs in Chicago as well as in New York; and
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| WHEREAS, Because the LPM system undercounts minority |
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| viewers and because the Nielsen ratings are the sole measure of |
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| audience for television shows, minority viewers are deprived of |
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| an equal say in determining programming content that appeals to |
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| them and advertisers are deprived of accurate information; |
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| therefore, be it
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