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Judge Orders D* to Stop HD Ads

post #1 of 93
2/5/07 at 3:37pm
Thread Starter 
press release just came out ...

JUDGE ORDERS DIRECTV TO STOP
RUNNING FALSE HD ADVERTISING


STAMFORD, CT, February 5, 2007 - Federal District Judge Laura Taylor Swain of the Southern District of New York today ordered DirecTV to cease running two national television ads that falsely claim that DirecTV's HD service is superior to Time Warner Cable's. The ads feature celebrities Jessica Simpson and William Shatner. Under the Court's injunction, DirecTV is prevented from running the ads or "any other advertisement disparaging the visual or audio quality of TWC or cable high-definition television ("HDTV") programming as compared to that of DIRECTV or satellite HDTV programming" in any Time Warner Cable market.

Judge Swain also ordered DirecTV to cease running website banner ads in any market in which Time Warner Cable operates that falsely purport to show a side-by-side comparison of DirecTV and cable's picture quality. The ads enjoined from running any ads that represent "that the service provided by Time Warner Cable, or cable service in general, is unwatchable due to blurriness, distortion, pixilation or the like, or inaudible due to static or other interference" and specifically enjoined DirecTV from running ads featuring the images of NFL football players Eli Manning and Kevin Dyson, among others, which the judge found grossly distorted the representation of cable's picture quality.

About Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable owns and manages cable systems serving 13.4 million subscribers in 33 states. Passing approximately 26 million homes, Time Warner Cable includes some of the most technologically advanced and best-clustered cable systems in the country, with nearly 85 percent of the Company's customers located in five geographic regions: New York, Texas, Ohio, the Carolinas and southern California. Leveraging its leadership in innovation and quality customer care, Time Warner Cable delivers advanced products and services such as video on demand, high definition television, digital video recorders, high-speed data and Digital Phone. Time Warner Cable is a subsidiary of Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX).
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post #2 of 93
2/5/07 at 4:03pm
Thought this was bogus: but it's true.

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/...ap3397037.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16995870/

Just google news "DIRECTV" and you'll find a whole bunch of sources picking up this AP story.
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post #3 of 93
2/5/07 at 4:15pm
Good. I hate ads that are lies and very deceiving. Thankfully I already saved HD versions of the ads with Jessica Simpson. I cant help it. Shes hot. Just hit the mute button and enjoy.
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post #4 of 93
2/5/07 at 4:22pm
does this mean they can still air these damn commercials in comcast markets?? ahhhhh
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post #5 of 93
2/5/07 at 4:26pm
YAY, It about time those lying son of a .... got what's coming to them!
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post #6 of 93
2/5/07 at 4:34pm
Very well deserved. I am very happy.
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post #7 of 93
2/5/07 at 4:43pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by nikeykid View Post

does this mean they can still air these damn commercials in comcast markets?? ahhhhh

I don't think they do much localized advertising.
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post #8 of 93
2/5/07 at 4:46pm
ok good, so its pretty much the end of these commercials everywhere.
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post #9 of 93
2/5/07 at 4:57pm
How about an injuction against false TWC ads that say satellite goes out every time there is a cloud in the sky?
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post #10 of 93
2/5/07 at 5:10pm
This is a good step, I wish that some sort of penalty would have been added too to make other companies think twice before launching false advertising claims.
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post #11 of 93
2/5/07 at 5:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by bonscott87 View Post

How about an injuction against false TWC ads that say satellite goes out every time there is a cloud in the sky?

Why? Rain fade does affect sat reception. How about an injuction against D* advertising HD at all?
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post #12 of 93
2/5/07 at 6:43pm
Ka, which D*'s new birds will be using, is even more sensitive to rain fade

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post #13 of 93
2/5/07 at 7:38pm
Sorry but rain fade is BS. I go through heavy storms frequently and usually a storm will drop out the cable before the sat.
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post #14 of 93
2/5/07 at 7:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Savageone79 View Post

Sorry but rain fade is BS. I go through heavy storms frequently and usually a storm will drop out the cable before the sat.

Come on over to the mid-atlantic...
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post #15 of 93
2/5/07 at 7:53pm
...or the Southeast. Rain fade affected me several times a week during the summer rainstorms when I was a D* sub. I've had exactly 1 outage with Comcast in a little over 2 years. Rain fade was the primary reason I dropped D* at the time.
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post #16 of 93
2/5/07 at 7:54pm
Only outagte I've had with Comcast was when a thunderstorm knocked out a stations entire tower. My sis and bro in law have D* and get F'd up signals in thunderstorms, heavy rain, snow, etc
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post #17 of 93
2/5/07 at 8:01pm
I have a bigger problem with heavy cloud cover than I do with rain here. In the summer its guaranteed to rain at least once a day. I almost never lose signal. However, if its a DARK day out with lots of clouds, I do get signal breakup. I think its all about getting the dish aimed properly.
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post #18 of 93
2/5/07 at 8:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by nikeykid View Post

does this mean they can still air these damn commercials in comcast markets?? ahhhhh

I was really hoping this would be the end of Jessica Simpson talkin about how she doesnt know what 1080i means or hearing Christopher Lloyd compare HD to his flux capacitor.
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post #19 of 93
2/5/07 at 10:13pm
Ask NBC if rain fade is BS on Ku.
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post #20 of 93
2/5/07 at 10:48pm
Direct TV needs to apologize for its continued and expanding use of HD lite -before ripping cable
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post #21 of 93
2/5/07 at 11:21pm
You mean Shatner and Simpson weren't telling us the truth? Now I don't believe in nothing no more!
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post #22 of 93
2/6/07 at 12:51am
Quote:
Originally Posted by TVOD View Post

Ask NBC if rain fade is BS on Ku.

Indeed.
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post #23 of 93
2/6/07 at 12:58am
Quote:
Originally Posted by scolumbo View Post

...or the Southeast. Rain fade affected me several times a week during the summer rainstorms when I was a D* sub. I've had exactly 1 outage with Comcast in a little over 2 years. Rain fade was the primary reason I dropped D* at the time.

Or even Colorado. Rain fade here has occurred when a severe storm moved between the dish and the satellite - it wasn't even raining here but it certainly was a few miles south
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post #24 of 93
2/6/07 at 5:27am
Maybe now D* will be a little embarrassed about their HD-Lite and do something about it............maybe
What we need is some standards on what can be called @Trademark....Full High Definition.
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post #25 of 93
2/6/07 at 5:40am
Quote:
Originally Posted by vurbano View Post

Why? Rain fade does affect sat reception.

Come on now, you know better.

Comcast in our area in their ads literaly make it seem like DBS goes out at the drop of the hat.
Rain? Loss of signal.
Mist? Loss of signal.
Snow flurry? Loss of signal.

All of which are not true unless you have a poor installation.

Heavy Thunderstorm? Sure, but for only 5 minutes if that.

Recent ice storm knocked cable out for a week or more. Sat kept on working just fine.
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post #26 of 93
2/6/07 at 5:47am
Five minute thunderstorms? Again I say, come to the mid-atlantic....
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post #27 of 93
2/6/07 at 6:18am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bfoster View Post

Five minute thunderstorms? Again I say, come to the mid-atlantic....

This thread seems to have going hopelessly off-topic. Your experience with rain fade, cable companies, etc etc will depend on your installation and location. I've experienced very little rain fade with D* (although it definitely happens) but I know people who have. I also know people whose cable went out when the temp dropped below 40 degrees! Others don't have that problem.

It also seems rather pointless to resolve subjective arguments in court. Of course D* is going to say their HD is better. Of course cable companies will disagree. There's no truly objective way to determine truth, so why not let them battle it out via ads, etc.? If ads can tout how much a little pill can grow your *ahem* organ or make you lose weight, than certainly D* should be able to make an objective claim that can't be proven either way. All TWC needs to do is counter the argument with their own ad. It's called free speech and the marketplace of ideas. Let the market decide!



--Cross
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post #28 of 93
2/6/07 at 6:51am
For all providers--Sat, Cable, OTA--the trend has been for quantity over quality. I'm disappointed by that; I'd gladly pay a fair price for some truly high-quality channels, but feel cheated paying anything for a bunch of worthless channels with sub-par image quality. At least with OTA, I don't have to pay, but my local network affiliates are worse than worthless.
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post #29 of 93
2/6/07 at 6:52am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jones07 View Post

Maybe now D* will be a little embarrassed about their HD-Lite and do something about it............maybe

Not unless a cableco starts to advertise superior HD PQ. Even in this case TWC claimed "equal" PQ to D*. The cablecos had 2 or 3 years to tout HD PQ vs D* with D* in no position to match their PQ. Now D* is on the verge of enough capacity that any quality or quantity argument can be won if cable chooses to make either an issue.

If they haven't done anything until now, don't expect them to start just prior to the new sats going up. The last thing they want is another digital cable type of marketing where they sell all the advantages of digital to their customers, and then D* is able to reap the benefits of that marketing push by advertising 100% digital.
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post #30 of 93
2/6/07 at 7:53am
Here in Dayton, Ohio, the longest my satellite has gone out is 5 minutes. That was the heaviest rain I've ever seen here as well... but as soon as the heavy stuff passed the dish was back to normal. I hardly consider 5 minutes once in 6 months (during the big thunderstorm season) an issue...
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