MediaNews Daily’s David Goetzl writes about dissension amongst the media buyers over the new ratings sytem…

GROUPM’S RINO SCANZONI MAY HAVE served as the pied piper for ushering in the era of “C3″ ratings, but at least one agency that felt he moved too aggressively while the upfront was in progress stands firm.

Horizon Media CEO Bill Koenigsberg, whose agency handles the immense Geico account, said Wednesday the “C3″ shift has “backfired”–benefiting networks by “creating an artificial tightening of the marketplace” that’s sent scatter prices soaring. Furthermore, he reiterated the oft-cited issue that the new ratings are not accredited by the Media Rating Council, leaving their reliability in doubt.

“My competitors forced the “C3″ position on the networks,” Koenigsberg said at a panel discussion. “I don’t think that it was the intelligent thing to do this year.”

Scanzoni did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Horizon had pushed to continue using “live only” ratings again this season–and had some success in negotiations. But with GroupM leading the charge, the domino effect to make “C3″ the dominant currency in the marketplace was difficult to halt. “C3″ refers to the new ratings covering commercial viewing during the “live” broadcast and three days of DVR-aided viewing.