Nielsen Granted Stay Pending Appeal in Cumulus Anti-Trust Suit and Separately Files Countersuit Against Cumulus
Nielsen wins a round in its defense against Cumulus Media’s anti-trust claims as the Second Circuit Court of Appeals grants the stay pending appeal that it had sought as well as that Court granting its motion to seal
its opposition. Regarding the stay pending appeal, this give Nielsen the ability to do its business as usual while the claim makes its way through the courts. Nielsen also filed an Answer and Counterclaim with the United States District Court for Southern New York. It that filing it rejects all of Cumulus claims against it and then makes counterclaims. Nielsen claims “Cumulus has engaged in 
an illicit pressure campaign to extract favorable contract terms from Nielsen and undermine Nielsen’s position in the radio ratings market. While Cumulus was stringing Nielsen along during negotiations for a new services agreement to begin in 2026, behind the scenes, Cumulus intentionally and in bad faith breached multiple provisions of its existing contract with Nielsen by secretly handing over Nielsen’s crown jewels—itsproprietary and confidential radio ratings data—to Nielsen’s direct competitor.” Other claims Nielsen is making include that Cumulus negotiated in bad faith by refusing to engage with or counter Nielsen’s offers during the negotiation period and that Cumulus “retained counsel and launched a lawfare campaign, threatening antitrust litigation unless Nielsen capitulated to its demands, even though Nielsen has no obligation to renew its contract with Cumulus.” Nielsen also says Cumulus “supplied Nielsen’s confidential and proprietary information” to competitor Eastlan Ratings. Nielsen is asking that Cumulus’ suit be thrown out and that it receives from Cumulus attorneys’ fees and damages as determined by the court.
appeal of the District Court’s ruling on Cumulus’ request to seal the record and protect witnesses’ identities. That request was granted by the District Court. Cumulus Media is suing Nielsen alleging that the company is illegally leveraging its dominance over national and local radio audience data to stifle rivals and charge inflated prices. At the heart of the complaint is the charge that Nielsen is providing access to the national broadcast radio ratings only if the client spends a lot of extra money on the separate local ratings. Cumulus argues that Nielsen’s policy forces them to buy ratings in U.S. markets where it doesn’t operate stations in order to have the complete national ratings data.