That's according to an article published by Multichannel News.
The publication reports that Time Warner Cable filed for the injunction Wednesday in a Manhattan federal court. The commercials, which star Back to the Future's Christopher Lloyd, promote DIRECTV's plans to offer 100 national HDTV channels by year's end and up to 150 channels after that.
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But Time Warner says DIRECTV's is falsely claiming that it will have three times the number of HD capacity than cable. TW says it could increase its capacity to offer more than 200 high-def channels in the future.
Time Warner also challenged whether DIRECTV will be able to carry 150 national HD channels, noting that Sea Launch, scheduled to launch one of DIRECTV's new satellites this year, suffered a rocket explosion this month that could delay the satcaster's launch.
A DIRECTV spokesman said today that "this is just another example of Time Warner's frustration that they cannot compete in the marketplace with DIRECTV so they have resorted to the courts.”
Time Warner has previously sued DIRECTV over its
spots saying its HD picture is better than cable.
And a
federal judge ruled earlier this month that DIRECTV must stop
airing the commercials in Time Warner markets until the
lawsuit is resolved.
The commercials star Jessica Simpson and William Shatner.
DIRECTV said this week in an investors conference
call that it's still on target for delivering 100
national HDTV channels by year's end -- and that
it's unclear whether Sea Launch's launch of
its second satellite will be delayed.
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Phillip Swann is president and publisher of
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Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Financial
Times, The Associated Press and The Hollywood
Reporter. He can be reached at
swann@tvpredictions.com
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