Carey takes aim at BBC Earlier, News Corp chief operating officer Chase Carey came out swinging after a week of media attention in Australia, Britain and the US over accusations NDS promoted pay TV piracy. Mr Carey slammed a BBC program aired in Britain on Monday which focused on the pay TV piracy.

The show, not aired in Australia, was followed by lengthy reports in The Australian Financial Review which also aired details from a cache of emails from within NDS relating to the allegations. Mr Carey did not refer to the AFR's reports, although News Ltd yesterday vigorously attacked the claims. "The BBC's Panorama program was a gross misrepresentation of NDS's role as a high quality and leading provider of technology and services to the pay-TV industry, as are many of the other press accounts that have piled on - if not exaggerated - the BBC's inaccurate claims," Mr Carey said in a statement released this afternoon Australian time. "Panorama presented manipulated and mischaracterized [sic] emails to produce unfair and baseless accusations. "News Corp is proud to have worked with NDS and to have supported them in their aggressive fight against piracy and copyright infringement."

NDS, which was this month sold to technology giant Cisco for $5 billion, also rounded on the BBC program. News Corp released a letter from NDS chairman Abe Peled to Panorama, saying it "seriously misconstrued legitimate activities we undertake in the course of running an encryption business". "You have used footage to falsely demonstrate your allegation that we sent certain emails externally to facilitate piracy when in fact the email was sent internally as part of our anti-piracy work. You have also taken emails wholly out of context. This has helped paint a picture for your viewers that is incorrect, misleading and deeply damaging to my company and our sister company News Corporation." Mr Peled called for an immediate retraction of the allegations. The company's share price had fallen 1.9 per cent today to $19.11 at 2pm, after two days of rises.

This afternoon Prime Minister Julia Gillard backed Communications Minister Stephen Conroy's call for any criminal conduct to be referred to police. "If there is anyone who has in their possession material that they think raises a concern about a criminal offence they should refer it to the police," she told reporters in Sydney. Senator Conroy also said that the government had not referred the matter to police but said that if the AFR - which has been investigating the issue - had any evidence of criminal conduct it should pass it on to the Australian Federal Police. "If there's any evidence of that, then the AFR should put it to the federal police," he said. Loading

- with Judith Ireland