NDTV hit back at global advertising and communication firm WPP on Thursday terming its statements as “legally flawed” and a “PR exercise”.
The broadcaster was reacting to WPP that had on Wednesday called NDTV’s lawsuit as “hypothetical” and claimed it has not been served on WPP or its operating companies.
WPP, which is considering defamation charges against NDTV, had also said that “there is no merit in any claims made in the hypothetical lawsuit relating to the WPP parties nor do the courts of New York have any jurisdiction to hear any such claims.” Last month, NDTV had filed a lawsuit against TAM and its parent companies Nielsen and Kantar. Viewership rating agency TAM is a joint venture between Nielsen and Kantar. Kantar is a part of the WPP group.
The broadcaster, which said it was “baffled and amused” by WPP’s reaction, rejected WPP’s claims that NDTV’s lawsuit was “hypothetical.” stating it is available on the Web site of the Supreme Court of New York and lawyers and officials of Nielsen and Kantar have been in touch with NDTV on the same.
NDTV said, “While they claim that the suit has not been served, they surely know, or should know, that service was indeed made on the August 10 in New York, and processes under the Hague Convention are also underway as is the normal procedure.” The broadcaster said that the lawyers of Nielsen have been in touch with NDTV’s lawyers and have requested for an extension.
It added that the chief executive officer of Kantar Media has acknowledged receiving the complaint and that it has affidavits to substantiate it.
“We suggest WPP to refrain from using their massive PR machine to make baseless threats against NDTV. Instead, we request that WPP should focus on honestly fixing their badly damaged and dishonest ratings system in India - which in their statement they acknowledge they have control over and is their responsibility,” NDTV said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the News Broadcasters Association has urged the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to order an independent, third party and time-bound audit by a reputed agency to evaluate and measure the TAM systems. It has also asked the Ministry to direct TAM to suspend reporting data until efficient steps to correct deficiencies in the system are undertaken.
The apex body of news broadcasters stated, “ The responsibility of implementing Broadcast Audience Research Council will see the light of the day only if the ISA and the AAAI jointly take the serious efforts to launch it in immediate future,” its statement said.