News Corp accuses Panorama report of 'gross misrepresentation'

News Corporation's president and chief operation officer Chase Carey has responded to a report by BBC Panorama which accused a News Corp-owned company of using hacking "to sabotage" a pay-TV competitor, claiming the programme carried "unfair and baseless accusations".

BBC Panorama broadcast a documentary on Monday (26 March) carrying allegations that NDS "used a computer hacker to sabotage Sky TV's biggest rival", ITV ONdigital, later renamed ITV Digital.

The BBC report carried accusations against NDS, which at the time was responsible for manufacturing "smartcards for all News Corporation's pay-TV companies across the world", of being linked to "leaking information from On Digital".

In a statement broadcast by the BBC, NDS said the claims were "simply not true" and that it had "never authorised or condoned the posting of any code belonging to any competitor on any website."

In a statement News Corporation president and chief operating officer Chase Carey added that the Panorama documentary "was a gross misrepresentation of NDS's role as a high quality and leading provider of technology and services to the pay-TV industry".

He also criticised "many of the other press accounts that have piled on - if not exaggerated - the BBC's inaccurate claims".

He added: "News Corporation is proud to have worked with NDS and to have supported them in their aggressive fight against piracy and copyright infringement."

In a statement responding to the Panorama report NDS said: "The allegations made by Panorama and subsequently additional media outlets were the subject of a long-running court case in the United States."

It claimed that this case "concluded with NDS being totally vindicated". News Corporation's Carey added that it "supports NDS in clearing its name".

On Twitter News Corporation boss Rupert Murdoch posted several tweets referring to making preparations to "hit back hard", although does not state what exactly he is referring to.

Update: The BBC has responded in a statement to say "we stand by the Panorama investigation".

"We have received NDS's correspondence and are aware of News Corp's rejection of Panorama's revelations. However, the emails shown in the programme were not manipulated, as NDS claims, and nothing in the correspondence undermines the evidence presented in the programme."

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