Tag: monopolistic practices

The latest court filing in the Cumulus v Nielsen monopolistic practices suit tells the court it is no longer asking it to prevent harm, it’s asking the court to recognize that the harm has already happened. The filing states: “After a three-day evidentiary hearing, the District Court ruled for Cumulus, finding that Nielsen’s unlawful tying would irreparably injure Cumulus’s relationships with advertisers, goodwill, and market share, and push it towards financial collapse. The District Court accordingly enjoined Nielsen’s anticompetitive conduct. Nielsen’s brief attacks those findings as speculative, asserting that Cumulus never showed any real risk of bankruptcy or any other non-compensable harm, but one of those irreparable harms has now come to pass: After a motions panel stayed the injunction, Cumulus declared bankruptcy—citing “the Nielsen network tying policy” as a significant contributing cause. The other harms identified by the District Court remain today and have become increasingly urgent, as Cumulus will lose access to Nationwide this September.” TALKERS associate publisher and Harrison Media Law senior partner Matthew B. Harrison comments, “Cumulus has fundamentally shifted the posture of this case. What began as a forward-looking claim of irreparable harm is now being presented as a realized outcome, following its Chapter 11 filing. The appellate court is no longer being asked to prevent potential damage, but to assess whether the harm that has already occurred can be attributed to Nielsen’s challenged conduct — or to broader economic pressures facing the radio industry.”