It’s DirecTV’s turn to mock the cable industry over its recent M&A moves aimed at achieving more scale across the board.
DirecTV, now part of AT&T, has launched a humorous ad about the fictitious merger of Cable Corp Inc. and CableWorld, seemingly a jab at the failed Comcast-Time Warner Cable, the pending deal between Charter Communications, TWC and Bright House Networks, or Altice's proposed deals for Suddenlink Communications and Cablevision Systems…or just maybe all of them in one fell swoop.
“We all know that DirecTV’s better at this whole TV thing, so to beat ‘em, we’re going to get bigger, we’re going to merge with CableWorld,” proclaims the Cable Corp. chief, played by Jeffrey Tambor.
“That company stinks,” another Cable Corp. exec (John Michael Higgins) chimes in later. “And I mean they smell. I used to work there. I had to breathe through my mouth the whole time.”
And then Fred Willard, playing the big cheese at CableWorld, delivers the punchline. Well, we don’t want to blow it…just see it for yourself:
Update: And here's the ad about how things are going at CableWorld, post-merger, which will start airing later this month (other ads in the campaign will also air this fall):
The DirecTV ads, which are revival of the company's “Empty Cable Suit” commercials from 2008 that also featured Higgins, comes in the wake of recent ads from Comcast that jabbed at the AT&T-DirecTV merger and Charter Communications’ anti-satellite TV campaign.
http://www.multichannel.com/news/content/charter-ads-take-jabs-satellite-tv/393896
Comcast’s campaign, which was initially launched in markets such as Chicago, Miami before spreading to other MSO markets and complemented by radio, print and digital ads, starts out: “This is the dawn of an old day, because AT&T and DirecTV are offering yesterday’s technology…today.” Then proceeds to talk up satellite TV’s problems in rainy, windy and even “branchy” conditions.
See it here:
Charter, meanwhile, has enlisted Saturday Night Live alum Kevin Nealon to play Captain Telstar, commander of the aging Satellite TV Headquarters vessel that launched in 1994:
Who says advertising’s dead?
