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Arbitron and GAP Broadcasting Sign Agreements for Diary-based Radio Ratings Services in 17 Markets

Posted on: Monday, 2 March 2009, 10:00 CST

Agreement includes software services in all markets and monthly rolling-average reports in year-round market

COLUMBIA, Md., March 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Arbitron Inc. (NYSE: ARB) announced today that it has signed multi-year agreements with GAP Broadcasting, LLC ("GAP") and GAP Broadcasting II, LLC ("GAP West") for diary-based radio ratings services in 17 markets.

The agreement includes software services for all stations in the 17 markets and Arbitrends monthly rolling-average reports in Shreveport, LA, a market that Arbitron measures year-round.

"I'm pleased with the plan and commitment that Arbitron is undertaking to enhance the quality of the diary ratings in our GAP markets. I am counting on Arbitron's training team to help my sales staff generate new revenues from local direct advertisers in all my rated markets," said George Laughlin, President, GAP.

"We considered the competing ratings services. Arbitron is the only one that surveys all the markets we require, has long-standing relationships with radio advertisers and agencies while providing real value in terms of training and support that will help us generate local ad revenue," said Erik Hellum, President, GAP West.

"Thousands of radio broadcasters rely on the Arbitron diary service to program, market and sell ad time on their radio stations. Our goal is to enhance the quality and reliability of our diary methods and work with radio broadcasters so that Arbitron ratings services can be a valuable asset for their business," said Michael Skarzynski, President and Chief Executive Officer, Arbitron Inc.

Arbitron-Rated Markets Covered by Agreement

About GAP and GAP West

GAP and GAP West, subsidiaries of GAP Broadcasting Group, LLC, own and operate radio stations in mid-sized markets that are primarily located in the faster-growing Gulf Central and Pacific Northwest regions of the United States. In each market that it serves, the company is currently or is seeking to become the preeminent provider of local content through its over-the-air and online offerings. GAP currently owns and operates 59 radio stations in 12 markets located in Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma. GAP West currently owns and operates 60 radio stations in 13 markets located in Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Minnesota. GAP Broadcasting Group is controlled by funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management, L.P.

Editors Note: GAP and GAP West own and operate radio stations in 7 local markets that are not surveyed as part of Arbitron's syndicated local market radio ratings services and are not part of these contracts.

About Arbitron

Arbitron Inc. (NYSE: ARB) is a media and marketing research firm serving the media - radio, television, cable, online radio and out-of-home - as well as advertisers and advertising agencies in the United States. 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 has developed the Portable People Meter(TM), a new technology for media and marketing research.

Arbitron's headquarters and its world-renowned research and technology organizations are located in Columbia, Maryland, USA.

Portable People Meter(TM) and PPM(TM) are marks of Arbitron Inc.

Arbitron Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The statements regarding Arbitron Inc. and its subsidiaries 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 we have derived from information currently available to us. 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, in no particular order, whether we will be able to:

• absorb costs related to legal proceedings and governmental entity interactions and avoid related fines, limitations, or conditions on our business activities;
• successfully implement the commercialization of our Portable People Meter service;
• successfully maintain and promote industry usage of our services, a critical mass of broadcaster encoding, and the proper understanding of our audience measurement services and methodology in light of governmental regulation, legislation, litigation, activism or adverse public relations efforts;
• successfully design, recruit and maintain PPM(TM) panels that appropriately balance research quality, panel size and operational cost;
• compete with companies that may have financial, marketing, sales, technical, or other advantages over us;
• complete the Media Rating Council ("MRC") audits of our local market PPM ratings services in a timely manner and successfully obtain and/or maintain MRC accreditation for our audience measurement business;
• renew contracts with key customers ;
• successfully execute our business strategies, including entering into potential acquisition, joint-venture or other material third-party agreements;
• effectively manage the impact, if any, of any further ownership shifts in the radio and advertising agency industries;
• respond to rapidly changing technological needs of our customer base, including creating new proprietary software systems and new customer products and services that meet these needs in a timely manner;
• successfully manage the impact on our business of any economic downturn, generally, and in the advertising market, in particular;
• successfully manage the impact on costs of data collection due to lower respondent cooperation in surveys, privacy concerns, consumer trends, technology changes and/or government regulations; and
• successfully develop and implement technology solutions to measure new forms of audio content and delivery, multimedia and advertising in an increasingly competitive environment.

There are a number of additional important factors that could cause actual events or our actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, the risk factors set forth in the caption "ITEM 1A. -- RISK FACTORS" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007, our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2008, and elsewhere, and any subsequent periodic or current reports filed by us with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In addition, any forward-looking statements contained in this document represent our estimates only as of the date hereof, and should not be relied upon as representing our estimates as of any subsequent date. While we may elect to update forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we specifically disclaim any obligation to do so, even if our estimates change.

SOURCE Arbitron Inc.

Source: PR Newswire

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