Comcast Withdraws Complaint About DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket Ads

UPDATE: A DirecTV rep tells Consumerist that Comcast is “grossly misrepresenting” the situation.

In a statement to Consumerist, DirecTV writes:

Comcast can spin it any way they want but they lost the TRO last week and they withdrew their case today because they knew they were going to lose. Our NFL Sunday Ticket campaign will continue to air as planned. We won, plain and simple.

DirecTV also says the ad campaign continues to air, with a “small graphic enhancement” added to one spot.

—Original Post—–

Earlier this month, Comcast filed a lawsuit against DirecTV, alleging that the satellite provider’s ads touting free access to its NFL Sunday Ticket package were misleading. Today, the Kabletown folks say they have withdrawn that complaint because DirecTV has stopped running the ads.

From the official Comcast blog:

DirecTV has discontinued or modified its false and misleading advertising to consumers regarding its NFL Sunday Ticket package as a result of our legal action. As such, we have elected to withdraw our complaint on this matter.

DirecTV had been running TV spots saying that NFL Sunday Ticket was now included with a subscription to the satellite service. Comcast alleged this statement was an “outright lie” because the deal was only extended to new customers and was only good for the 2011 NFL season.

At the time a DirecTV rep told Consumerist that the Comcast suit was “without merit.”

To those DirecTV subscribers who feel like they have been burned by the company’s decision to give away the expensive Sunday Ticket package to new subscribers, we’ve heard anecdotal evidence of existing customers receiving discounts by calling DirecTV and complaining.

DirecTV False and Deceptive Advertising Update [Comcast]

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