Time Warner Cable settled a lawsuit against DirecTV (CD Feb 7 p11...
Time Warner Cable settled a lawsuit against DirecTV (CD Feb 7 p11) alleging that the satellite provider’s ads touting the superiority of its HD service to cable’s were misleading, the companies said. A Time Warner Cable spokesman said the…
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settlement came several weeks before a ruling Thursday by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York overturning a district judge’s preliminary order that DirecTV stop airing televised ads featuring Jessica Simpson and William Shatner, because they seemed misleading. In banner ads on various websites, DirecTV displayed a clear picture from its service next to highly pixelated video labeled as coming from another TV provider. The court agreed with DirecTV’s argument that no one would believe that the pixelated image was genuine. “It is difficult to imagine that any consumer, whatever the level of sophistication, would actually be fooled by the Internet advertisements into thinking that cable’s picture quality is so poor that the image is ‘nearly entirely obscured,'” wrote Judge Chester Straub. Judges Amalya Kearse and Rosemary Pooler agreed. “The Internet advertisements’ depictions of cable are not just inaccurate, they are not even remotely realistic.” DirecTV and Time Warner Cable officials said their settlement made the ruling moot. They wouldn’t disclose the terms. - JM