Charter files suit against DirecTV over advertising campaign BY Tim Barker ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Tuesday, May. 12 2009 http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/sciencemedicine/story/4FB27A8C5295DB77862575B4000544BE?OpenDocument Right around the time Charter Communications filed for bankruptcy protection in late March, one of its satellite television competitors launched an aggressive advertising campaign aimed at undermining customer confidence in the Town and Country-based cable provider. On Monday, Charter fired back with a lawsuit, accusing El Segundo, Calif.-based DirecTV of engaging in a campaign of deceptive and false advertising. The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, seeks monetary damages and an injunction against the national ad campaign. A Charter spokeswoman said the company does not comment on pending litigation. But the lawsuit alleges that DirecTV has been using direct mail, print, radio and billboards to spread false information about Charter, which is controlled by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. "In particular, DirecTV's advertisements falsely state that Charter will not be able to provide services due to Charter's bankruptcy and that customers need to be 'saved' by DirecTV from Charter's bankruptcy," the company said in its lawsuit. Charter has maintained throughout its bankruptcy that services to subscribers will not be affected by the proceedings. DirecTV had little to say about the lawsuit: "We have not seen the complaint, but we stand by the accuracy of our advertising," said Robert Mercer, spokesman. -- ================================ George Antunes, Political Science Dept University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204 Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927 Mail: antunes at uh dot edu *********************************** * POST TO [email protected] * *********************************** Medianews mailing list [email protected] http://lists.etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews
