* MPG refuses to make the payment it owes the BRAT, as it is unhappy with its services
* The Romanian Ratings Audit Bureau has filed a lawsuit against Media Planning Group (MPG)
* The Court rejected the lawsuit filed by BRAT, causing the latter to file an appeal
* The head of the newspaper "Monitorul de Botoşani" considers that "the National Ratings Study (SNA) is a major fraud and money down the drain"
Several beneficiaries (publications and advertising firms) dispute the ratings numbers published by the Romanian Ratings Audit Bureau (BRAT), as they feel that the data of the National Ratings Study (SNA Focus) - a study conducted by the BRAT which measures both the ratings and the profiles of print publications, as well as the consumption of products and services - is "subjective" and does not reflect the reality in the market.
* MPG broke the ratings auditing contract it had with the BRAT
Advertising firm MPG has expressed its discontent at the ratings data provided by BRAT, which is why, in August 2010, the agency broke the contract with "SNA Focus", which was initially signed in January 2006 and extended through addendums, until November 2009. After that date, "the contract will automatically be extended by 1 one year, unless either party informs the other about its intention to no longer continue within three months from the beginning of the new year of the SNA study", according to the documents filed by MPG with the court of District 1, in a lawsuit filed by BRAT against the advertising firm, whereby it demands that MPG pay the unpaid invoices.
One of these documents presents the letter by which MPG informs BRAT, in October 2009, about its intention to abandon the SNA, as follows:
"Following some internal audits of the results delivered by the SNA study concerning the readership figures of several publications,
