ABS-CBN wants Nielsen cited for contempt

ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. has asked the Quezon City Regional Trial Court to cite for contempt AGB Nielsen Media Research Philippines for defying the temporary restraining order prohibiting the release of TV ratings.

In the petition for contempt, ABS-CBN named AGB Nielsen, its board of directors, and general manager Maya Reforma as respondents for releasing the television audience measurement or TAM data on Dec. 20, or a day after the court issued the TRO.

ABS-CBN chief legal counsel Maximilian Uy said AGB Nielsen has sent an advisory through email that it intends to continue delivering, releasing, and making known TAM despite the issuance of the TRO.

“It is clear that AGB Nielsen continues and intends to continue to gather and release TV ratings data,” he said.

The contempt case stemmed from the P63-million civil case filed by ABS-CBN against AGB Nielsen for the research company’s failure to investigate reports of what seems to be an organized, systematic, and well-funded attempt to cheat in the ratings.

An informant approached ABS-CBN and confessed that he was hired to find and bribe households equipped with meters or panel homes in Bacolod to change the programs they are watching.

ABS-CBN head of corporate communications Bong Osorio said it is imperative for AGB Nielsen to ensure a clean TV ratings process by checking its panel homes nationwide to see if the same activity is taking place.

Osorio said AGB Nielsen Media Research Philippines must stop the release of its data since a breach has been confirmed and the research agency cannot say how much of their panel has been infiltrated.