Rival Stations Cry ‘Foul,’ Demand Cut in KABC-TV Ratings

NEW YORK — Several Los Angeles television stations are pressuring the major TV ratings services to drop some ratings results for KABC-TV’s 11 p.m. newscast because of an eight-part news report that the competitors contend helped the show win top ratings during the just-completed May ratings “sweeps.”

The most forceful complaints are coming from KCBS Channel 2, which says it may sue A. C. Nielsen and Arbitron and cancel ratings service contracts if the KABC show’s ratings are not dropped from the ratings books.

At the center of the storm are segments run on KABC’s “Eyewitness News” between May 18 and May 27, which promised insights about the Nielsen “families”--households that participate in the company’s audience research. Competitors claim that the segments inflated KABC ratings by drawing the attention of families in the companies’ research samples.

The series was heavily promoted on other KABC shows, and elsewhere, including advertisements in TV Guide. “If you’re one of the families, obviously you’re going to want to find out all about a group that you’re included in,” said Jane Collins, director of research for KTTV Channel 11.

The audience viewing levels gathered from the sweeps, which are conducted four times a year, are used to set the price of future advertising time.

Rule Violations Claimed

The stations assert that KABC violated the ratings services’ rules against any broadcast that calls attention to the sweeps. Such actions are believed to interfere with the collection of untainted numbers.

KABC’s competitors are unhappy, too, because despite those rules the news segments featured an interview with A. C. Nielsen Chairman and Chief Executive John Holt and footage of Nielsen’s audience-ratings operation in Dunedin, Fla.

They say Holt’s appearance is a serious embarrassment for Nielsen, which apparently was unaware when the series would run.

“That he participated makes it all the more astonishing,” said Douglas Clemenson, vice president for network advertising sales at CBS Inc., which own KCBS. “This is a stunt that boggles the mind.”

KABC’s 11 p.m. news had a composite rating of 8.3 for the 12 weekdays immediately before the series ran, the Nielsen numbers show. (In Los Angeles, each rating point represents the viewing of 45,000 households.)

On the first night of the series, KABC’s 11 p.m. newscast racked up an 18.2 rating, according to the Nielsen results. For the whole of the series, the rating came to an impressive 10.5, with an audience share of 24%. The KCBS news received a 7.1 rating, and the KNBC news an 8.5 rating.

If the eight-day period were excluded, as the competitors have asked, KNBC would lead the pack with a 9.4 rating, while KABC would be second with a 9.0 rating, and KCBS would be third, with a 6.9 rating, the Nielsen results show.

John Severino, general manager of KABC-TV, did not return several phone calls seeking comment. He has, however, defended the series as a creative idea designed to keep the Capital Cities/ABC-owned station ahead in one of the nation’s most competitive markets.

Spokesmen for Arbitron and Nielsen said the ratings companies have not decided how they will respond to the complaints. But Nielsen officials are meeting with KABC executives today, and may announce their decision soon, industry sources said.

Given Little Weight

The ratings services usually respond to such complaints by noting in their ratings books that special promotions have been made that may affect the ratings results. But most in the industry agree that such notations are usually given little weight when advertisers and their ad agency representatives decide how much to pay for advertising time.

Industry officials say the issue has put the ratings companies in a difficult position. A strong response, such as a decision to drop the ratings, might affect KABC’s sales and open them to a lawsuit by KABC, some broadcast officials speculated.

But a mild response might provoke KABC’s competitors to take the same course, they said.