Oken, Luff join Nielsen

Nielsen Media Research announced two major appointments Monday.

Jack Oken, former president of MMT Sales, joins Nielsen as general manager of
local services, first and foremost of which is the local ratings service, the
Nielsen Station Index.

Oken replaces Harry Stecker, the former Petry Television president who joined
Nielsen in 1998. He'll remain a consultant to the company.

Nielsen also announced that Robert Luff, chief technology officer for NBC's
broadcast and network-operations group for strategic broadcast development, has
joined the company as executive vice president and CTO.

In this newly created position, Luff will serve as Nielsen's technology
'ambassador to the world,' representing all areas of engineering research and
development on a worldwide basis. His primary focus will be on audience
measurement and the effect of convergence in the global marketplace.

Luff reports to Nielsen chairman John Dimling, but he will also work closely
with president Susan Whiting and Robert McCann, who heads up Nielsen's
international media business.