The sale and licencing agreements were stipulations laid down by the Federal Trade Commission, which was worried that Nielsen’s $1bn acquisition of Arbitron would lessen competition in the media measurement market.

In particular, the FTC wanted to ensure that initiatives like Project Blueprint – a multi-platform research collaboration between Arbitron and comScore, on behalf of the sports broadcaster ESPN – could continue.

ComScore president Serge Matta said: “This agreement will provide comScore the ability to use a range of Nielsen Audio [Arbitron] assets and technology in current and future multi-platform media measurement efforts and will allow the broader industry to benefit from continued innovation in this area. We look forward to building on our previous innovations in multi-platform media measurement and fulfilling our ongoing commitment to the industry to address critical cross-media measurement challenges.”

The agreement has been submitted to the FTC for approval. But before reaching a decision, the Commission has opened up a public comment period to allow interested parties to have their say on the proposal. Details are online here.