Commentary

Comcast Files Silly Suit Versus DirecTV

It must be good to be a lawyer for Comcast. The company has sued DirecTV charging the satellite operator with engaging in false advertising in a case that has about as much chance of succeeding as the Detroit Lions historically have had of winning the Super Bowl.

Comcast's core allegation is that DirecTV's promotions about offering its NFL "Sunday Ticket Package" for free, or at no extra charge, this season are deceiving. Why? Essentially because the fine print offers plenty of caveats.

If using fine print as a modifier for a special offer is a violation, then the entire advertising business is in for the type of overhaul the Lions have needed.

There's that saying about being in a glass house and not throwing stones. Comcast should probably have heeded that.

Is it really true that the giant cable operator has never made an alluring triple-play or free-Showtime offer, where certain qualifiers haven't been made clear in a banner headline?

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What DirecTV is accused of is standard fare for advertising by cable, satellite and telco TV advertisers as they try to snag customers from one another. Pause an ad with a DVR and examine the warnings, or check out the lengthy text at the bottom of a print ad.

Comcast alleges that DirecTV doesn't properly inform customers that by taking the "free" offer for the popular "Sunday Ticket" they will be subject to a two-year contract with "hefty" fees for "early cancellation" and in year two, a customer will have to pay full price. Later in court papers, it cites other alleged restrictions to the "free" deal, such as it only being available to new customers.

Comcast writes that DirecTV has "gone to great lengths to conceal" these issues from consumers. "Many of its ads, especially those aired on the radio, simply omit this critical fact altogether," it writes, "while DirecTV's television and Internet ads employ a carefully crafted scheme of purported disclaimers that were intentionally designed to deceive as many customers as possible."

Comcast also writes that DirecTV has engaged in such troubling practices before and reached a settlement with Attorney Generals in all 50 states and D.C. to halt it, but is just continuing. It may have some grist there, and if the DirecTV radio ads have no proper voiceover qualifiers that may help a bit.

But at the end of the day, a judge will likely let DirecTV off the hook because the likes of the accuser (Comcast) have helped seed a smart consumer -- one who knows that free comes with a price. Operators have run so many special-offer operator ads that certainly customers have gone for the ostensible bargains and then realized the downside later.

1 comment about "Comcast Files Silly Suit Versus DirecTV".
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  1. Gary Press from MBTV, August 4, 2011 at 5:50 p.m.

    FYI -

    No such thing as "Attorney Generals."

    It's "Attorneys General."

    Gary

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