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Indian TAM Case: NDTV Appeals for US Trial
Indian TV network New Delhi Television (NDTV) has set out its reasons for wanting a US trial for its case against Nielsen and WPP, urging the Supreme Court of the State of New York to reject the two companies’ recent requests to have it thrown out.
NDTV brought the suit in the summer, claiming staff at the global firms’ TAM joint venture took bribes in exchange for overstating ratings, damaging its business to the tune of ‘around $810m’ over eight years.
WPP was relatively quick off the mark in filing a petition for dismissal, andrumbled into the fray more than two months later with a similar request. They argued that India was the appropriate venue for a lawsuit, not New York. In its filing last week, however, NDTV said that New York was the more appropriate venue, arguing: ‘At its core, this action is about Nielsen, a New York-based global enterprise that has successfully marketed and profited from its U.S.-originated television ratings system called the ‘Nielsen Process’’ - used to generate ratings for sale around the world.
NDTV’s filing says that Nielsen investigated the complaints from New York, that its Chief Security Officer Robert Messemer talked afterwards of ‘absolutely shocking and un**believable’ corruption at Nielsen and TAM in India’ - and that promises to follow up and remedy the situation were not honoured. It also rejects India as a venue for the lawsuit, on a number of grounds, including the fact that Indian courts do not permit pre-trial discovery from non-parties - affecting NDTV’s ability to make its case - and that the Indian judicial system is known for its ‘significant delays’ which could mean the case dragging on for decades.