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 CBS-PR-061206102740.doc
August 17, 2004
ARBITRON AND INFINITY BROADCASTING REACH MULTI-YEAR AGREEMENT FOR RADIO RATING SERVICES
NEW YORK, August 17, 2004 - Arbitron
Inc. (NYSE: ARB) today announced that it has reached an agreement with Infinity
Broadcasting Corporation, a division of Viacom Inc., (NYSE: VIA and VIA.B) for
a multi-year contract including radio ratings and other related services for
its 185 stations.
This
agreement, which is effective immediately, gives Infinity Broadcasting access
to quarterly radio ratings in 42 markets including the Spring 2004 survey.
Steve Morris,
president and chief executive officer, Arbitron Inc., stated, "Our goal all
along was to reach a mutually beneficial agreement with Infinity and
to maintain our long-term relationship with
the company and with its people.
We look
forward to providing Infinity with our Media Rating Council (MRC) accredited
ratings services and the other widely accepted information services which
Infinity can now use to get the most revenue for the audience that they deliver
to advertisers."
"This
announcement is about Infinity's commitment to improving and innovating radio's
audience measurement methodologies and delivering the most efficient research
to our advertisers," said Joel Hollander, President and Chief Operating
Officer, Infinity Broadcasting. "We look forward to advancing rating
services for the industry in the future."
About Arbitron
Arbitron Inc. (NYSE: ARB) is an international
media and marketing research firm serving radio broadcasters, cable companies,
advertisers, advertising agencies and outdoor advertising companies in the
United States, Mexico and Europe. Arbitron's core businesses are measuring
network and local market radio audiences across the United States; surveying the
retail, media and product patterns of local market consumers; and providing
application software used for analyzing media audience and marketing
information data. The Company is developing the Portable People Meter, a new
technology for radio, TV and cable ratings.
Arbitron's marketing and business units are
supported by its research and technology organization located in Columbia, Maryland.
Arbitron has approximately 1700 employees; its executive offices are located in
New York City.
Through its Scarborough Research joint venture
with VNU Media Measurement & Information, Arbitron also provides media and
marketing research services to the broadcast television, magazine, newspaper
and online industries.
About
Infinity
Infinity Broadcasting is one of the largest
major-market radio operators in the United States, with stations
covering the news, modern rock, oldies, country, FM talk, classic rock and
urban formats.
Infinity owns 185 radio
stations, the majority of which are in the nation's top 50 markets and reach
more than 70 million listeners a week and is also home to 29 of the country's
leading sports franchises amongst the NFL, MLB, the NBA and NHL.
# # #
This press release contains forward-looking
statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995.
The statements regarding
Arbitron in this document that are not historical in nature, particularly those
that utilize terminology such as "may," "will," "should," "likely," "expects,"
"anticipates," "estimates," "believes" or "plans," or comparable terminology, are
forward-looking statements based on current expectations about future events,
which Arbitron has derived from information currently available to it.
These forward-looking statements involve
known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause our results to be
materially different from results implied in such forward-looking
statements.
These risks and
uncertainties include whether we will be able to:
renew all or part of contracts with large
customers as they expire;
successfully execute our business strategies,
including implementation of our Portable People Meter services, as well as
expansion of international operations;
effectively manage the impact of further
consolidation in the radio industry;
keep up with rapidly changing technological needs
of our customer base, including creating new products and services that meet
these needs;
successfully manage the impact on our business
of any economic downturn generally and in the advertising market in particular;
and
successfully manage the impact on costs of data
collection due to privacy concerns and/or government regulations.
Additional important factors known to Arbitron
that could cause forward-looking statements to turn out to be incorrect are
identified and discussed from time to time in Arbitron's filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission, including in particular the risk factors
discussed under the caption "ITEM 1.
BUSINESS - Business Risks" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K.
The forward-looking statements contained in this
document speak only as of the date hereof, and Arbitron undertakes no
obligation to correct or update any forward-looking statements, whether as a
result of new information, future events or otherwise.
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MEDIA CONTACTS
Karen L. Mateo
Vice President, Communications
(212) 649 9639
Allison Mandara
Communications Coordinator
(212) 649 9606
Dana McClintock
Senior Vice President,
CBS Communications Group
(212) 975 1077
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