Craig.Carlen[Online].com

I’m a big proponent of truth in advertising - especially when those ads are related to technology. Advertisers will invariably push the limits on what defines ‘truth‘. For example, when DirecTV ads come on it’s only in the smallest of print that appears on the screen for maybe 5 seconds do they mention that every additional receiver you install requires a $5.00 fee. They’re by no means lying about it, but to hide that fact in the legalese the FCC and FTC requires for promotional and sales ads is arguably holding back part of the truth.

But when it comes to cable and satellite providers, Comcast is by far the biggest abuser of the Truth in Advertising laws I’ve seen in a long time. Truth in Advertising is fairly straight forward - an ad must be truthful and non-deceptive, there must be evidence to substantiate the claims of the ad, and the advertisements cannot be unfair. Comcast stretches those guidelines to the nth degree - at least with their ads here in Michigan.

Comcast’s current ad features my favorite condescending brunette telling Michigan residents how DirecTV just published information that their subscribers average bill is almost $80 per month. But if those subscribers had spent just $20 more they would have digital cable, broadband internet and digital phone service - collectively bundled as Comcast’s Triple Play. What Comcast doesn’t tell you is that the digital cable package included with Triple Play includes roughly 80 cable channels (10 of which are upper tier hence requiring their Motorola digital cable box) and about 40 or 45 digital music channels. Where as the average DirecTV subscriber - based on the near $80 package fee - is getting over twice the amount of channels and a comparable amount of digital music channels. DirecTV subscribers are also receiving everything in MPEG2 digital whereas the Triple Play package only has 10 channels that are actually digital. And without getting too technical, Comcast only has 1GHz of bandwidth for everything they offer (cable, internet and voice) - most people complain that their digital compression is too compressed and their digital channels suffer greatly (even more so with High Def - but that’s for another post).

Now apply Truth in Advertising laws to Comcast’s ad: there is deception; their claims cannot be substantiated comparing like products; the ad is unfair because they are comparing two very dissimilar packages. I’d say b all accounts their ad fails the litmus test. But Comcast gets away with it because for about 3-5 seconds there’s a small bit of print across the bottom 1/3 of the screen detailing everything I’ve pointed out. Granted, you need a DVR to pause the ad and a magnifying glass to read all the print, but it’s there - protecting them from consumer advocacy groups and laws intended to protect consumers from unfair advertising practices.

I’ve prepared a simple chart detailing everything that’s currently available in my area (Grand Rapids, MI). So these figures may not apply to your area - although I beleive the AT&T Uverse, DirecTV and DISH Network prices are consistent in all of their subscriber areas. This way, anyone can see where each company stands with promotions and regular priced offers for bundles as well as stand alone services.

So there’s everything - at least the major packages and offers from the major providers in my area all in one place. The package I’m most intrigued with is AT&T Uverse. AT&T is just now rolling out Uverse in the West Michigan area after getting a bill passed in Michigan to allow the entire state to be considered one licensing market rather than each city being a separate licensor. Net Neutrality would have been an added bonus to that deal, but it would also have been a deal breaker - so as it generally is in politics you take the good with the bad. Anyway… IP based television, VDSL and VoIP telephony in one package at a very affordable rate that offers many package configurations for just about any budget. FTTN technology also offers AT&T substancially more reach than their traditional ADSL offerings.

Personally I’m tired of Comcast (specifically) blurring and outright jumping over the line of Truth in Advertising laws. DISH Network and DirecTV bend the rules a bit as well, but not nearly as much as Comcast. Charter is available in this area but doesn’t service Grand Rapids specifically so I’ve not had the opportunity to see many of their ads so it would not be fair of me to comment about how or if they abuse the Truth in Advertising laws. When AT&T rolls out Uverse in my neighborhood I’ll be the first to sign up - my parents are getting the service installed next week so I’ll have a gauge of how the service is working. I’m very confident they’ll be happy with it and the package will save them roughly $30 a month over what they previously had. But the numbers are all right there - make your own informed decision on what best works for your needs.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 at 6:14 pm and is filed under Broadcasting, Technogreed, Usability. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.