Comcast Corp. says it's withdrawing a lawsuit against its rival DirecTV in a case over whether the satellite TV provider misrepresented that customers could receive free NFL games.
Comcast and DirecTV disagreed, of course, over what prompted the dismissal of the lawsuit.
J T. Ramsay, a chief blogger with Comcast, wrote that “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."
El Segundo, Calif.-based DirecTV declared that Comcast withdrew its lawsuit “because they knew they were going to lose," Multichannel News reported, quoting DirecTV in a statement. “Our NFL Sunday Ticket campaign will continue to air as planned. We won, plain and simple."
Earlier this month, a federal judge denied Comcast’s request for a temporary restraining order against DirecTV.
In spite of the ruling, Philadelphia-based Comcast initially planned to proceed with its lawsuit, and a hearing had been scheduled for Wednesday.
Comcast alleged DirecTV launched a multimillion-dollar ad campaign to lure consumers with the claim that they can receive DirecTV’s NFL Sunday Ticket for free when that it not actually the case.
Comcast and DirecTV are engaged in a war for subscribers at a time when an increasing number of Americans are turning to Netflix and other alternatives to paid TV operators for video entertainment.
In the second quarter, Comcast lost 238,000 video customers while DirecTV picked up 26,000 subscribers in the United States.
