DirecTV Cites Comcast Media Center in False-Advertising Suit

DBS Provider Claims Cable Operator-Owned Facility Rendered Survey Results Inadequate

By Linda Moss -- Multichannel News, 7/27/2007 2:35:00 PM

DirecTV Thursday filed an amended false-advertising suit against Comcast, alleging that Comcast Media Center participated to produce an “inadequate survey” claiming that two-thirds of satellite customers believe the cable operator has the best HDTV-picture quality.

The amended complaint, unlike the original suit filed in Chicago by DirecTV in May, makes reference to Comcast Media Center. DirecTV charged that Comcast made misleading claims in print ads in May when the cable company cited a survey of satellite customers that it commissioned from Frank N. Magid Associates.

DirecTV’s amended complaint claimed that the survey was conducted by Magid at the Comcast Media Center, which isn’t named as a defendant in the suit. Comcast Media Center provides network-origination services, transmitting programming via satellite and terrestrial fiber optics.

“On information and belief, Comcast Media Center furnished the instruments by which Comcast conducted the inadequate survey and thereby knowingly participated in the creation, development and propagation of Comcast’s false and misleading advertising campaign,” the amended complaint said.

Comcast in June filed an answer to DirecTV’s original suit, denying the direct-broadcast satellite provider’s charges. “We stand behind the results of our survey,” Comcast spokeswoman Jenni Moyer said Friday.

Comcast earlier this month sought a temporary restraining order to stop DirecTV from continuing to run a new TV ad flight -- a campaign the DBS company already pulled.

DirecTV’s lawsuit against Comcast, pending in U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Illinois, is set for an Oct. 22 trial.