Dish Can Keep Tweaking DirecTV

By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 2/22/2010 10:21:00 AM

NEW YORK — A federal judge has allowed Dish Network to continue sticking its thumb in DirecTV’s eye.

DirecTV on Feb. 11 sued over its rival’s “Why Pay More” ad campaign, which the larger satellite operator alleged made a false comparison between the companies’ programming packages and pricing. Last week, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York denied DirecTV’s emergency injunction to stop the ads and found that it failed to prove a “likelihood of success on the merits.”

DirecTV is still seeking an order requiring Dish to retract its claims and run corrective ads, plus unspecified monetary damages. The operator accused the No. 2 satellite operator of false advertising for the “Why Pay More” ads, which imply that customers can get a channel lineup from Dish for only $39.99 per month comparable to one from DirecTV for $63.99 per month.

“We will vigorously pursue our lawsuit to prevent Dish Network from attempting to lure customers away from DirecTV through its blatantly misleading advertising campaign,” DirecTV senior vice president of advertising and public relations Jon Gieselman said in a statement.

Dish executive vice president of sales, marketing and programming Tom Cullen said in a statement, “We stand by the comparisons we make and are confident we will also prevail in the lawsuit.”

Dish rebutted DirecTV’s claims that the ad compares “apples and oranges,” asserting the ad fairly compares its own America’s Top 120 package with DirecTV’s entry-level Choice package, when a customer orders service for two TVs. “Clearly DirecTV gets very unhappy when consumers compare our two brands, but the claims in their lawsuit are without merit,” Cullen said.