In a strongly worded statement issued on Saturday, Pronnoy Roy-promoted news broadcaster NDTV has hit back at global communications agency WPP's Chief Executive Martin Sorrell, asking him not to take India lightly and get his facts right.
NDTV said Sorrell should know the first rule of any PR campaign is never to get your facts wrong. “We can only conclude that Sir Martin Sorrell has been misled by his team into making several incorrect statements,” a statement from NDTV read.
“We request him (Sorrell) to clean up his ratings operation in our country and to refrain from using his global PR clout to perpetuate corruption in his India ratings operation; to respect our country and the serious issues raised in our very real lawsuit ( Sorrell referring to it as "hypothetical" was bizarre) and take real steps to correct them.”
NDTV has issued the statement in response to an interview that Sorrell had given to a financial daily.
NDTV has also listed the errors Sorrell had made in his interview. According to Sorrell, NDTV's lawyers reached out to his lawyers to ask for a settlement. However, NDTV claims there was no such approach after the complaint was filed and communicated. “In fact, it was his own CEO, Eric Salama, the CEO of Kantar, a WPP company, who sent a confidential mail to NDTV on August 8, suggesting a meeting if NDTV would halt litigation,” NDTV said.
The broadcaster has clarified a further mail exchange followed and NDTV respected Salama's confidentiality by not making this public till now. “But Sorrell would do well to check with his own senior executives before making baseless charges,” it added.
NDTV also said that contrary to what Sorrell said, the biggest accusation against TAM rating system in India has come from Nielsen's own global head of security, Robert Messemer, not just from Indian broadcasters and NDTV. “Messemer, formerly of the FBI, in a meeting in Delhi on April 11, in front of two dozen people (including the CEO of Kantar), called TAM India operations the most corrupt in the world and he has been to many, many countries to fight fires for Nielsen. Sorrell needs to check his facts with Messemer or would he perhaps threaten to sue him for defamation?” NDTV has asked.
NDTV has also said Sorrell's sudden outbursts have done even more to prove that jurisdiction of the lawsuit is indeed in the US and not in India, as he has openly acknowledged how deeply involved he and Nielsen are, in Indian TAM viewership ratings operations.
Further, it added that NDTV may not have a £10 billion empire like WPP backing it, but WPP should realise a court case is fought on the merits. “We urge them to read the 194 page lawsuit, which contains indisputable facts, and respond to it on the factual merits, not with personal attacks,” NDTV said.
On referring to NDTV's low market cap, the company has said that it is indeed near impossible for an “honest Indian media company” to function in the dishonest environment Sorrell's company has helped create in India. “If NDTV's true ratings were reflected as 62 per cent rather than TAM's corrupted 25 per cent, the impact on NDTV's revenues and market cap would be hugely significant,” NDTV claimed.
It also said Sorrell was personally informed about all the problems with TAM ratings at a meeting at a hotel in Gurgaon in August 2011, in the presence of a large number of journalists and eminent people. “That was a year ago, and there was no "gun to the head". Why was nothing done?”
Last month, NDTV had accused TAM and its promoter companies Nielsen and Kantar Media Research of fudging viewership data in favour of networks that were willing to bribe its officials in India. NDTV’s lawsuit in the US had listed 42 counts against TAM, Nielsen, Kantar, WPP, etc. NDTV had sought $810 million as compensation for the revenue loss it suffered over the years due to the fudged viewership ratings, as well as $580 million as penalty for negligence by Nielsen and Kantar officials.
