Charter Communications won the first round in its defamation
battle with DirecTV, with the granting of a temporary restraining order against
the satellite giant that will force it to halt radio, print and direct mail ads
the cable operator called misleading.
Charter filed suit against DirecTV in U.S. District Court
for the Eastern District of Missouri on Monday night, hclaiming
that DirecTV has targeted its customers with misleading ads claiming the cable
operator's bankruptcy will affect service.
Charter filed a pre-packaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy on March27,
but has said from the beginning that the action would have no affect on
operations.
In the suit, Charter requested a temporary restraining order
against DirecTV to cease running the ads, compensation from the satellite giant
for any "corrective advertising," and unspecified damages.
"We are pleased that a temporary restraining order against
DirecTV's clearly false and misleading advertisements was granted," Charter
executive vice president and general counsel Grier Raclin said in a statement.
"While we are well-positioned for competition, we believe competition should
remain fair and truthful. Charter's operations are strong and our customers can
feel confident that we will continue to serve them as usual, including
providing them with high quality video, Internet and phone service during and
after our restructuring."
