[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1372 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

  1st Session
                                S. 1372

  To provide for the accuracy of television ratings services, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              July 1, 2005

    Mr. Burns (for himself, Ms. Snowe, Mr. Martinez, and Mr. Allen) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
           Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To provide for the accuracy of television ratings services, and for 
                            other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Fairness, Accuracy, Inclusivity, and 
Responsiveness in Ratings Act of 2005'' or the ``FAIR Ratings Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Communications via the medium of broadcast television, 
        including the transmission or carriage of those signals by 
        multichannel video programming distributors (as defined in 
        section 602(13) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 
        522(13)), play a critical role in and affecting interstate 
        commerce.
            (2) Television ratings inform television operators and 
        advertisers with respect to the size and demographic makeup of 
        audiences for television programming.
            (3) Television operators rely upon these ratings to fulfill 
        their obligation to serve the public interest.
            (4) Television viewers will receive the most representative 
        variety of television programs if television ratings 
        measurement services provide data that accurately reflects 
        viewing by all demographic groups.
            (5) Inaccurate ratings systems that undercount minority, 
        young, family, and rural television populations will adversely 
        affect these populations if television operators broadcast 
        fewer programs that are intended to serve them as a result of 
        inaccurate ratings.
            (6) The interests of the television-viewing public will be 
        best served by an industry oversight system that guarantees 
        accurate ratings of television shows.
            (7) The Media Ratings Council was established at the behest 
        of Congress in the 1960s to guarantee the accuracy of 
        television ratings and to ensure such oversight.
            (8) It is in the public interest to ensure that the Council 
        have the necessary authority to fulfill its critical role.

SEC. 3. ACCREDITATION OF RATINGS.

    (a) In General.--
            (1) Accreditation required.--No person may sell, offer to 
        sell, or otherwise provide, in or affecting interstate 
        commerce, data from a television ratings measurement system 
        that produces, or is designed to produce, television ratings 
        data to be used commercially as currency ratings unless that 
        system is accredited by the Media Ratings Council.
            (2) Trial period for new measurement systems.--The Council 
        shall accredit any television ratings measurement system not in 
        existence on the date of enactment of this Act that produces, 
        or is designed to produce, data to be used commercially as 
        currency ratings for an initial trial period on the basis of 
        audits of the ratings system to be utilized. The Council shall 
        establish a limited, reasonable, and uniform period of time for 
        such trial periods.
            (3) Change in methodology.--If the operator of a television 
        ratings measurement system that is in existence on the date of 
        enactment of this Act makes a change in that system that has 
        not been approved for accreditation purposes by the Council, 
        the operator may not offer data from the changed system as 
        currency ratings until the Council has accredited the changed 
        system utilizing any process of review it deems appropriate for 
        evaluating such a change.
    (b) Standards for Accreditation.--
            (1) Basic principles.--The Council shall base its standards 
        of accreditation on the following basic principles:
                    (A) Accuracy.--Any accredited television ratings 
                measurement system shall accurately convey all the 
                aspects of audience viewing behavior that it is 
                intended, or is represented, to convey, using accurate 
                statistical methods and social sciences data, including 
                disclosure of all limitations or possible sources of 
                error.
                    (B) Equal representation.--The statistical 
                processes used to determine ratings data in an 
                accredited television ratings measurement system shall 
                include all age groups, demographic and sub-demographic 
                groups, geographic locations, and other indicators of 
                the population of the United States as may be relevant, 
                in as accurate, proportionate, and fully representative 
                a manner as possible, based on the requirements of the 
                intended scope of each television ratings measurement 
                system.
                    (C) Disclosure of methodology.--Any operator of a 
                television ratings measurement system shall disclose to 
                the Council the details of--
                            (i) how the system conducts its measurement 
                        of data; and
                            (ii) how the system interprets the data.
            (2) Standards.--The Council shall establish specific and 
        detailed standards for accreditation based on these principles, 
        and make them publicly available at all times.
            (3) Periodic review.--The Council shall periodically 
        conduct a review of the standards based on changing 
        circumstances, technologies, methods, or market conditions, and 
        update the standards as necessary.

SEC. 4. DISPUTE RESOLUTION.

    (a) Procedures for Accreditation.-- Any dispute between an operator 
of a television ratings measurement system and the Council shall be 
resolved according to the dispute resolution procedures of the Council, 
based upon the rules and procedures specified in the bylaws of the 
Council in force at the time of the dispute.
    (b) Mandatory Participation.--An operator of a television ratings 
measurement service that--
            (1) fails to receive accreditation from the Council, and
            (2) offers or uses, or intends to offer or use, the data 
        produced by that system commercially as currency ratings,
shall participate in a dispute resolution procedure maintained by the 
Council.
    (c) Disclosure of Audit Data.--If there is a dispute between the 
operator of a television ratings measurement system and the Council 
within its dispute resolution procedures, the Council may disclose 
audit and related data about the aspects of the system under dispute 
during the accreditation process to its members, other interested 
parties, or to the public.
    (d) Binding Decision.--If the Council determines in a dispute 
resolution process that changes in a television ratings measurement 
system are necessary for that system to be accredited by the Council, 
and if the operator offers or intends to offer data from that system 
commercially as currency ratings, then the operator of the system shall 
make the changes specified by the Council.
    (e) Discretion over Process.--The Council shall have sole 
discretion over the length, scope, timing, and process of resolving 
disputes concerning accreditation of television measurement ratings 
systems.
    (f) Enforcement Action.--The Council, or any of its members, may 
seek judicial enforcement of this Act, or of any final accreditation 
determination of the Council, in any court of competent jurisdiction.

SEC. 5. MEDIA RATINGS COUNCIL DECISIONS.

    For the purposes of this Act, no action taken or decision made by 
the Council shall be taken into account unless it was fully reviewed 
and agreed to by the Board of the Council following deliberation, 
voting, and recommendations according to the rules and procedures of 
the Council.

SEC. 6. ANNUAL REPORT.

    (a) In General.--The Council shall transmit an annual report on its 
activities no later than March 1 of each year to the Federal Trade 
Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, the Committee on 
Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives, and the Committee 
on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the United States Senate.
    (b) Required Content.--The report shall contain--
            (1) a summary of disputes about the accuracy of television 
        ratings measurement systems that took place over the previous 
        12 months;
            (2) a summary of issues driving change in the market for 
        data provided by television ratings measurement systems, 
        including technology, market forces, and customer demand; and
            (3) any other relevant information.

SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Accreditation.--The term ``accreditation'' means 
        determination that a television ratings measurement system 
        meets the Minimum Standards for Media Rating Research as set 
        forth by the Council, based on a rigorous and transparent audit 
        and consultation process with the operator of the television 
        ratings measurement system.
            (2) Media Rating Council; Council.--The terms ``Media 
        Rating Council'' and ``Council'' mean the organization formed 
        by the television industry in 1964 to represent the interests 
        of advertisers and television operators in accurate ratings of 
        television programming, or any other ratings accreditation 
        agency that may be established in the future by a significant 
        majority of television operators, television programmers and 
        advertising agencies, exclusive of operators of television 
        ratings measurement systems, to perform a comparable set of 
        functions at a comparable level of quality.
            (3) Television Ratings Measurement System.-- The term 
        ``television ratings measurement system'' means any system 
        designed to measure the viewing habits of television viewers 
        and to produce commercially usable data based on such 
        measurements.
            (4) Currency Ratings.--The term ``currency ratings'' means 
        data produced by television ratings measurement systems that 
        are widely used by a significant portion (as determined by the 
        Council) of television operators and advertisers to determine 
        the commercial value of advertising on television.
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