Arbitron CEO Forced to Resign Following ‘Misstatement’ about PPM to Oversight Committee

Arbitron’s Michael Skarzynski, named CEO of Arbitron exactly a year ago, has been booted from the position. William Kerr, a member of the board of directors since 2007, will take over the role of president and CEO.

Skarzynski was forced to resign after the board of directors found that he had “violated a company policy” in a matter the company says was unrelated to its financial performance.

In a letter to Reps. Edolphus Towns (D-NY), chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Arbitron evp Alton Adams said Skarzynski “acknowledged a misstatement in connection with his testimony to the committee Dec. 2” about the PPM, reports the Wall Street Journal.

PPM Fails Accreditation in 18 Markets

In related news, Arbitron has released a statement saying that the Media Rating Council has accredited the use of the PPM service in Minneapolis-St. Paul - but has denied accreditation in 18 markets, including Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, San Diego, Seattle, Tampa-St. Petersburg, and Washington, DC.

Currently, the PPM is accredited only in three of its 33 PPM markets.

The MRC also closed without action audits for two California markets (San Francisco and San Jose) and these two markets remain unaccredited. Arbitron will collaborate with the MRC to re-audit each of these markets in 2010.

Arbitron says it is “encouraged” by the accreditation of Minneapolis-St. Paul, which further validates its “Radio First” methodology. “Arbitron believes that across all of its PPM markets it has demonstrated significant progress and ongoing commitment to improvement requested by the MRC,” a statement reads. “The Company continues to adhere to the MRC accreditation process, and looks forward to working together with the MRC on that process.”

The PPM has come under fire from broadcasters that say the service undercounts minorities. A number of government groups including the Government Accountability Office and the FCC have been looking into the effect of Arbitron’s PPM on advertising revenue streams for radio stations, particularly surrounding the issue of minority radio.

The attorneys general in New York, New Jersey and Florida sued Arbitron to stop the company from implementing the PPM, and Cumulus and Clear Channel both dropped Arbitron’s service last year in several markets and in favor of Nielsen’s new diary-based service.