• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, April 4, 2016

Nielsen this morning announced a “multi-year” agreement to license aggregated digital set-top-box data from satellite TV service Dish Network.

Nielsen claimed it will be the “first nationwide dataset to be calibrated with” its conventional panel-based TV ratings service.

“Anonymized data from millions of Dish households will be combined with true, person-level insights from Nielsen’s local markets, offering the industry a deeper understanding of viewing habits and increased metrics reliability,” Nielsen said in a statement explaining the deal.

Nielsen COO Steve Hasker characterized it as “another step in our efforts to integrate Big Data into our portfolio and our total audience efforts.”

Nielsen said the Dish data initially will be integrated into Nielsen’s local TV ratings service across all 210 markets it serves.

The companies said the agreement will also enable Nielsen to leverage Dish’s set-top-box data to complement other local and national products including Nielsen Scarborough, Nielsen Data Fusion, Nielsen Media Custom Insights. In addition, Nielsen will also have the ability to use set-top-box data for its suite of “marketing effectiveness” products in the consumer package goods, retail and automotive categories .