The Paul, Weiss Antitrust Practice advises clients on a full range of global antitrust matters, including antitrust regulatory clearance, government investigations, private litigation, and counseling and compliance. The firm represents clients before antitrust and competition authorities in the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and other jurisdictions around the world.
Paul, Weiss Obtains Victory in Television Ratings Case
Practices
On January 13, Judge Huck in the Southern District of Florida granted summary judgment to our client, The Nielsen Company (U.S.) LLC, with respect to the federal and state antitrust claims asserted by Sunbeam Television Corp.
Sunbeam, which owns local FOX affiliate station WSVN-7 in Miami, sued Nielsen, the leading provider of television "ratings," in April 2009, claiming that Nielsen's October 2008 rollout of a new ratings measurement methodology in Miami was the anticompetitive result of Nielsen's alleged monopoly power. In particular, Sunbeam alleged that the new Local People Meter system -- which produced lower ratings for WSVN than the predecessor system had -- was defective, untested, and could only be foisted on the market because Nielsen had successfully excluded all potential competitors from Miami.
Judge Huck disagreed, finding no support in the record for Sunbeam's claim of Local People Meter inferiority and holding that none of the three excluded rivals Sunbeam identified was willing and able to enter the local ratings market in Miami but for Nielsen's exclusionary practices.
Litigation partner Aidan Synnott argued the summary judgment motion, and the team included litigation partner Les Fagen, and counsel Dan Crane, Darren Johnson, and Brian Stekloff.