BALTIMORE: Sinclair Broadcast Group said it has entered into an agreement with the Rentrak to replace its expiring Nielsen Media Research service at eight stations. Sinclair will pick up Rentrak’s Station Views Essentials at stations it recently purchased from Four Points Media Group in Salt Lake City, (CBS and MNT),West Palm Beach, Fla. (CW and Azteca), Providence, R.I. (CW) and Austin, Texas (CBS and Telemundo). This agreement with Rentrak also covers WPEC, Sinclair's CBS affiliate in West Palm Beach, and extends the existing relationship Sinclair already has with Rentrak covering 12 other television markets.
“The relatively large database size provided by Rentrak’s service provides for much greater ratings stability and predictability than would otherwise be obtainable, at a very fair price,” said Sinclair’s chief operating officer, Steve Marks. “We plan to evaluate whether or not to make similar moves in other markets when our contracts with Nielsen come up for renewal in the near future.”
