News Corp. President and Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey lashed out Wednesday evening at a BBC report alleging that a software subsidiary leaked tips that enabled viewers to access rival pay-television channels for free.
Carey labeled the BBC "Panorama" report "a gross misrepresentation." The accusations, which date back a decade, are the latest hacking headache for News Corp., still coping with fallout from accusations about practices at its former U.K. tabloid News of the World.
The report aired Monday on the BBC weekly news magazine "Panorama" and concerns NDS, the pay-TV encryption firm that News Corp. owned a 49 percent stake in until recently. News Corp. and private-equity firm Permira sold NDS to to Cisco earlier this month for $5 billion.
“Panorama presented manipulated and mischaracterized emails to produce unfair and baseless accusations," Carey said. "News Corporation is proud to have worked with NDS and to have supported them in their aggressive fight against piracy and copyright infringement."
"Panorama" reporters claimed that NDS used a website called Thoic to tell customers how to get the television network On Digital for free. On Digital went bankrupt in 2003.
