Nielsen Audio and Flinn Broadcasting have filed lawsuits against each other over Flinn’s non-payment of their license for ratings data.
Nielsen sued Flinn for $176,134 ($136,872.88 in past due fees, $16,287.12 in interest and $22,974 in attorney fees) claiming that Flinn hasn’t paid for its contracted PPM services in Memphis since February 2015. A request for a summary judgment was dismissed by Federal Judge Ellen Hollander this week.
Flinn followed by counter-suing Nielsen this week claiming Nielsen was in breach of its contract. Flinn’s argument is that Nielsen’s methodology predictably undercounted listeners with an insufficient sample size and unrepresentative demographics and withheld that it was denied MRC accreditation for Memphis until after signing Flinn to a contract. Flinn also believes that all of the ratings produced following the use of a Voltair processor by a competitor were “materially defective, false, misleading and unreliable” and is seeking $702,530 in damages plus costs and attorney’s fees.
Flinn owns Sports 560 WHBQ/87.7 WPGF-LP, Spanish “Radio Ambiente” 1030 WGSF, Soft Oldies “Sunny 1210/103.1” WMPS/W276BH, Southern Gosepl 1240 WAVN, Classic Hip-Hop “Bumpin 96” 96.1 WIVG/96.3 W242CF, Urban “Hot 107.1” WXHT and CHR “Q107.5” WHBQ-FM in the Memphis market.