Cumulus Media has filed a motion to dismiss all three of Nielsen's counterclaims in their ongoing antitrust lawsuit, labeling them "transparent attempts to retaliate" and "scorched-earth tactics" intended to intimidate challengers to Nielsen's dominance in radio ratings.
In the motion submitted last week, to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Cumulus contends the counterclaims, filed by Nielsen on February 2, are legally deficient and serve primarily to distract from Nielsen's alleged unlawful practices, inflate litigation costs, and warn the market against opposition.
Cumulus asserts the claims hinge almost entirely on one email from its employee Pierre Bouvard to Eastlan Ratings CEO Michael Gould, which allegedly shared Nielsen ratings data with the competing small-market ratings provider.
Key to Cumulus's argument is testimony from Gould himself during a December 2025 preliminary injunction hearing—incorporated by reference into Nielsen's own pleadings. Under questioning by Nielsen's counsel, Gould stated he never opened the email attachments: "I didn’t look at it... I must admit I don’t look at every attachment on every email. So I didn’t."
He added that Eastlan routinely obtains Nielsen data through standard industry sources, such as clients or advertising agencies, and that knowledge of data comparability predates any Cumulus involvement: "We know the data is comparable. No, not specifically because of Cumulus. We have been doing this a while."
For the unfair competition counterclaim, Cumulus raises multiple grounds for dismissal: it duplicates the contract claim, the same contractual waiver bars required special damages under New York law, and Nielsen fails to allege that Cumulus and Nielsen are direct competitors—a prerequisite under Second Circuit precedent.
The declaratory judgment claim, Cumulus argues, is duplicative of the breach claim and resolves no independent issues.
Cumulus frames the counterclaims as part of Nielsen's pattern of using litigation against competitors, citing at least four lawsuits against upstarts since 2021. It references a separate November 2025 countersuit by TVision Insights in Delaware accusing Nielsen of deploying baseless suits to overwhelm rivals. Cumulus points to Nielsen's request to dismiss the original antitrust complaint as evidence of retaliatory motive unrelated to any actual harm.
Background on the dispute includes a December 30, 2025, preliminary injunction granted to Cumulus after a hearing, finding substantial likelihood of success on claims that Nielsen unlawfully ties national radio ratings sales to local data purchases. That injunction was later stayed by the Second Circuit pending appeal.