New York Court Throws Out Ratings Bribery Suit

New York's Supreme Court has ruled that the $1 billion lawsuit brought by New Delhi Television (NDTV) against Nielsen and WPP should be heard in India. The broadcaster alleges that staff at the firms' TAM joint venture took bribes in exchange for overstating ratings.

NDTV brought the suit last summer, alleging that it had met with a number of TAM field staff who claimed they could influence what panellist households watched in return for between $250 and $500 per household per month.

The suit alleged that the manipulation of viewership data had been happening for the past eight years, and NDTV sought damages of at least $810m for fraud, and at least $580m for negligence.

In response, WPP filed a petition for dismissal, arguing along with Nielsen that India was the appropriate venue for a lawsuit, not New York. Today's decision bears this out - but will be appealed by NDTV.

'NDTV believes that this lower court's decision is based on several misconceptions, legal and factual errors, and this will be outlined in the appeal. The New York lower court did not go into the merits of the case on corruption in the Nielsen process as used by Nielsen and Kantar through TAM. The court merely looked at where the location of the case should be heard. NDTV firmly believes it must be heard in New York, and we will pursue this on appeal in New York,' the broadcaster argued.

In a joint statement, Nielsen and WPP said they were pleased with the court's ruling.