Cox Communications has come out on top in the latest round of the broadband advertising wars.

AT&T had appealed Cox’s “Gig Speeds Everywhere” claim in TV and radio ads to the advertising self-regulating body, the National Advertising Division (NAD) of BBB National Programs.

In a decision reported Wednesday (October 26), NAD said Cox had provided a “reasonable basis” for that express claim of delivering gigabit speeds everywhere, as well as the implied comparative claim the Atlanta-based MSO can provide all of its customers with those speeds while AT&T can't provide them to its customers.

The ad in question featured a supposed text conversation between Cox and AT&T that NAD said conveyed that message.

NAD based its decision on evidence Cox provides gigabit speeds to almost any consumer it serves and to all customers in the areas where it ran the ads. NAD also said it accepted the Cox claim that less than half of AT&T Fiber customers have access to gig speeds because of the limited availability of the telco’s fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) service.

NAD, though, did recommend Cox modify the claim to make sure consumers know the gig speed applied to downloads only and not to give the impression, which was unsupported, that AT&T does not offer speeds faster than 5G in areas where it competes with Cox.

Cox said it would comply with the recommendations. ■

An advertising self-regulatory body has told T-Mobile's home internet service it should stop making the implied claim in its TV commercial that consumers can save 50% over the price of cable broadband and other home internet competitors and T-Mobile has agreed, though says it does not agree with the National Advertising Division (NAD) of BBB National Programs' conclusion the claim is off base.

NAD said it had determined that the “Up to 50%” savings claim is unsupported because few consumers are paying the $105 a month that T-Mobile uses as its basis for comparison from the FCC’s benchmark rates and that the benchmark, rather than an average price but a public policy metric "set by the FCC to ensure equitable pricing for rural areas."

It said that while the ad implies that consumers can save up to 50% if they buy T-Mobile home internet versus competitors, including Charter, T-Mobile "did not demonstrate that consumers switching to T-HINT will realize such savings."

Also: NAD Says Comcast Should Drop Unsupported Ad Claims

According to NAD, T-Mobile said it would agree to comply because it was committed to the self-regulatory process, but that it disagreed with "certain" NAD findings about the FCC rate benchmark.

NAD said T-Mobile's TV ad had had provided a reasonable basis for the implied claim that its home internet (T-HINT) service was available "broadly" nationwide.

Broadband speed and service claims have been the subject of numerous NAD complaints among broadband and cable competitors, including Charter, Comcast, T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T. ■

The principal advertising self-regulatory body has suggested Charter Communications to stop claiming that AT&T’s internet service, without a distinction between cable/copper and fiber, is unreliable and glitchy “to a consumer-noticeable degree” compared to its Spectrum offering.

The National Advertising Division (NAD) of BBB National Programs said that was because Charter had not provided any backing for its superior performance claim.

Charter said it was disappointed but remains a supporter of the self-regulatory process and will take NAD's recommendation under advisement for future commercials.

Charter talked about future ads because it told NAD that it had already permanently pulled the ad before learning that AT&T had complained about it.

Charter had questioned whether NAD should have even been considering the challenge because Charter said the disputed claim of AT&T's jittery and glitchy service was not expressly stated in the commercial and that the evidence of service quality is a complex subject.

NAD was unconvinced. ■

The National Advertising Division (NAD) of BBB National Programs has concluded that quite a few of Google Fiber's ad claims of superior performance over cable internet service are off base, though it said some general claims are defensible.

That is according to a just-announced NAD mixed decision following a challenge by cable ISP Charter Communications to Google’s claims about its service compared to cable internet-service providers in its footprint.

Also: Did YouTube TV Back Off From Its Specious '$750 Cheaper Than Cable' Claim?

The NAD recommendations are just that, but Google Fiber said that while it disagrees with some of the conclusions, it will follow them.

While NAD said there was a reasonable basis for certain general speed claims, it said Google should discontinue “quantified” speed claims — that upload speeds were up to 77 times faster, for example.

NAD pointed out that while a reasonable consumer could conclude it was an apples-to-apples comparison of “comparable metrics,” Google was actually comparing Google Fiber’s top potential speed for its 1 and 2 Gigabit-per-second tiers to the median speeds of lower tiers from Charter and other cable ISPs.

NAD also said Google should drop claims of superior reliability or knocks on the cable competition as “unreliable and prone to outages.”

“Google Fiber is a strong supporter of self-regulation and will respect NAD’s recommendations,” the company said.

The Biden administration has put its thumb on the scale for fiber-to-the-home buildouts with the tens of billions of dollars it is putting into broadband subsidies, so it is important for cable ISPs to defend their turf and keep the proper perspective on their relative merits. ■

The National Advertising Division (NAD) of BBB National Programs, the ad self-regulatory body, has advised Comcast to drop a host of claims about its "unlimited" and "best price" advertising for its Xfinity 5G mobile plans. Comcast said it would comply.

The claims were challenged by T-Mobile.

Those claims are:

1.  “Unlimited 5G”
2. “Break free from the big three” carriers and “get the best price for Unlimited 5G”
3. “[G]et the best Unlimited price”
4. “Xfinity Mobile now has the best price for Unlimited 5G”
5. “Switch to Xfinity Mobile and get the best price for Unlimited”
6. “Get the best price on Unlimited data”
7. “Get Unlimited 5G for $30/mo per line”
8. “Get four lines of Unlimited 5G data for just $30/mo each with our new pricing”
9. “Get 4 lines of Unlimited 5G data for just $30/line/mo”
10. “The more lines you add, the more you save with our new plan pricing.”

NAD said the "unlimited 5G" claim delivers the specific message that customers get unlimited data at 5G speeds when customers only get access to 5G speeds up to 20 GB of data, after which the data is limited to 3G speeds. And while Comcast does "sometimes" include a disclaimer about "reduced speeds after 20GB of use," NAD said that does not cure the misleading initial claim because it is like saying "unlimited" service with a disclaimer that it is not unlimited.

As to the "best price" claims, NAD said that the message that a four-line plan costs less than the four-line plan of its competitors was unsupported given that the price was $30 per line and T-Mobile had a promotional price of $26 per line for its service. NAD said that issue might be cured by a caveat that Comcast was excluding promotional pricing from the comparison.

Comcast said it can come up with an "appropriate" disclaimer that will "make clear to consumers the basis of comparison (including comparisons which exclude temporary promotional pricing) and will comply with NAD’s recommendation in future advertising.”

Cable and telecom operators regularly challenge each other's ad claims before NAD. ■

T-Mobile is appealing a recommendation by the National Advertising Division (NAD) of BBB National Programs that it discontinue claims that its 5G network is most reliable.

AT&T had challenged several claims in T-Mobile ads and NAD had recommended T-Mobile stop claiming it was "America's....Most Reliable Network," as well as Verizon was stealing 4G bandwidth for 5G and the implied claims that 5G using DSS is inferior to low-band 5G using standalone spectrum and that T-Mobile's low-band 5G is a substantially different and better experience.

Also: T-Mobile Pulls Tom Brady, Gwen Stefani Ads

T-Mobile had cited an independent audit report by umlaut (T-Mobile paid the company to use the results in the ad but did not commission the audit) that used crowdsourced data from mobile wireless customers. But NAD concluded that umlaut's methodology was not "a good fit" with T-Mobile's reliability claim saying that its speed and coverage metrics alone were not sufficient to draw that conclusion.

T-Mobile in its appeal said that “like other similarly situated advertisers, T-Mobile should be able to advertise this independent award."

Back in February, AT&T lost its own appeal of an NAD recommendation that it "either stop making the claim that it is "building 5G on America's best network," or clarify that the network is referring to its 4G network.

Wireless carriers keep NAD pretty busy with claims, counterclaims and appeals of their respective claims about wireless superiority. ■

T-Mobile has agreed to pull ads making claims that the National Advertising Division (NAD) of BBB National Programs (formerly the Better Business Bureau), have determined were not supported.

The move is a bit like closing the closing the barn door after the team of horses has gotten out, since both ads debuted during CBS’s Feb. 7 telecast of Super Bowl LV to a huge audience and have been airing ever since.

Also Read: Verizon Agrees to Drop Certain Ad Claims

The two ads featured GOAT quarterback Tom Brady and singer Gwen Stefani in the now familiar format of conversations that get garbled, presumably on the networks of T-Mobile competitors, to humorous and embarrassing results.

NAD can only recommend, not mandate, such actions.

T-Mobile said it “is disappointed by NAD’s conclusion that consumers may take away a negative message from its humorous commercials,” but agreed to pull them anyway.

Wireless and wired broadband companies routinely counter-complain against one another over various service claims.

The National Advertising Review Board (NARB) has recommended that AT&T "clearly and conspicuously" disclose to  consumers that it has a material connection to Global Wireless Services (GWS) when it makes a "best network" advertising claim based on GWS testing.

It also said AT&T should either stop making the claim that it is "building 5G on America's best network," or clarify that the network is referring to is its 4G network.

AT&T agreed to comply with the decision.

The board is the appellate body for BBB National Programs, which resolves disputes over ad claims, though its decisions are not binding.

Verizon had challenged the AT&T claims before the National Advertising Division, which decided in Verizon's favor, leading to AT&T's appeal. AT&T has also challenged some of Verizon's 5G claims as the companies battle for 5G hearts and minds.

Also Read: Verizon Will Drop Certified 5G Ad Claims

"NARB agreed with NAD, finding that the relationship between AT&T and GWS could be material to consumers in evaluating AT&T’s 'Best Network' claim because AT&T in effect funds the GWS OneScore analysis each year," said the board. "The panel also agreed that there are aspects of the OneScore analysis that are subjective in nature, or that require the exercise of judgment, and accordingly the OneScore results could have been affected by the relationship."

The NARB panel said that it was not saying the OneScore results were improper, "only that the relationship could be material to consumers in evaluating AT&T’s best network claim."

Also Read: NAD Asks Comcast to Modify Ads

As to the claim about building 5G on America's Best Network, the panel said that the "building on" part was OK since it was supported by AT&T 4G upgrades, but that the "America's Best Network" part could be misunderstood as a reference to the 5G.

AT&T said it disagreed with some of the panel's conclusions but will comply with the decision.

In an advertising claim version of "storage wars," The National Advertising Division (NAD) of BBB National Programs has recommended that Dish pull the plug on some claims about its Hopper 3 DVR's superiority to that of others and the company has agreed to do so.

Also Read: NAD Has Issues With Comcast Claim

Streaming service AT&T TV, which uses cloud DVRs, had complained about Dish claims in an online and TV ad that the Hopper 3 was: “TV’s most powerful DVR”; “Records . . . 2 times more than our competition” (or “more shows”); and has “twice the storage space . . . as any of our competitors” (or superior storage space)."

DISH had offered up a consumer perception survey to bolster its contention that its "Girls' Night In" TV ad does not "convey and implied comparative message" and that even if it did, the comparison was to other hardware-based DVRS, not cloud DVRs--which AT&T offers.

NAD said the survey's open ended questions "simply did not test whether panelists took away a comparative message from the advertisement."

Also Read: Verizon Will Drop Certain 5G Ad Claims

Since NAD discounted the survey as evidence, it said it "stepped into the shoes of the reasonable consumer," and concluded that consumer would reasonably assume the claims were a comparison to all types of DVR including AT&T TV and its cloud DVRs.

As to Dish's uncontested claim that its Hopper 3 records "up to 16 shows at once and holds up to 2,000 hours of SD programming or 500 hours of HD programming," NAD concluded that Hopper 3 does not have superior recording or storage capabilities to could DVRs, and said that, in fact, Cox's DVR service beats Hopper 3 on number of shows recorded and hours of video stored.

According to NAD, Dish said it would go along with the self-regulatory process--NAD decisions are recommendations, not orders--and agree to, as NAD recommended, "discontinue or modify [the claims] to limit the comparisons to better fit the support provided." But Dish also said it was disappointed that its consumer perception evidence was not persuasive.

Facebook has agreed to participate in the BBB National Programs National Advertising Division (NAD) guidance program.

That is the self-regulatory process for reviewing and recommending changes, or not, to advertisements that have drawn complaints. It's recommendations are just that, but BBB National Programs points out that the vast majority of companies participating in the self-regulatory effort make changes based on those recommendations.

Related: Critics Pan Facebook Ad Ban

Facebook has been under fire in D.C. for not sufficiently vetting the political ads on its platform, and has taken steps to ramp up its oversight policies to weed out false or deceptive ads that could interfere with U.S. elections.

BBB National Programs said Facebook's decision will "strengthen truth-in-advertising enforcement on the social network's U.S. platform."

“Facebook’s advertising policies, which incorporate and go further than our Community Standards, include prohibiting misleading, exaggerated, or false claims," said Facebook head of business integrity product management Rob Leathern of the decision to join the self-regulatory initiative. "This partnership with BBB National Programs’ National Advertising Division will add a new layer of proactive detection to help us identify ads that violate those policies and take action quickly.”

The National Advertising Division (NAD) of BBB National Programs has recommended that Comcast stop making the advertising claim of Best In-Home Wi-Fi Experience" or at least narrow the claim to specific superiority attributes it can support.

That came in response to a challenge by AT&T to that and other advertising claims.

NAD also asked Comcast to pull its "Living with AT&T" commercial because the message that AT&T offered internet speeds it does not deliver.

Comcast said it would appeal the decision to the National Advertising Review Board because it argues that it provided "a more than reasonable basis to support its claim that it provides the 'best in-home Wi-Fi experience'" and that the decision is a “departure from the reasonable basis standard upon which Comcast and all other responsible advertisers rely.”

NAD did determine that Comcast's claim that “AT&T, why am I paying the same price for only a fraction of the speed you advertised?" as a stand-alone statement was supported, explaining it was because of Comcast's flat-price model versus AT&T's technology-based speed tiers.

"Comcast internet service is delivered over its cable network, with the same speeds available to nearly all customers in its service area. Whereas, AT&T provides its customers different speed tiers, based on which technology is available at their address (e.g., copper telephone wire, fiber optic cable, and a hybrid of copper and fiber optic cable)," NAD said. "At its base level of service, AT&T charges a flat price for 'up to 100 Mbps,' meaning that consumers will be sold different internet speeds depending on which speed is available at the consumer’s address. Comcast’s advertising sought to highlight that consumers who sign up for this service pay the same price but receive different internet speeds.

"Because of this flat price model, NAD determined that the challenged express claim in Comcast’s “Living with AT&T” commercial, 'AT&T, why am I paying the same price for only a fraction of the speed you advertised?,' was supported.

The National Advertising Division (NAD) of the BBB National Programs says that Verizon's claims in TV ads that it is "building the most powerful 5G experience for America" is not supported by the evidence and recommended that it discontinue or modify that claim.

AT&T had complained about the ads, which promote 5G service in sports venues, to the NAD, which is the investigative unit of the ad industry's self-regulatory unit.

NAD singled out the implied claim that Verizon is currently delivering that "most powerful 5G experience," and "unqualified superiority claim" in the present tense that is not supported by evidence, NAD concluded.

Verizon told NAD it will appeal--to the National Advertising Review Board--the decision's reading of its claim.

"The intent of the commercial is to inform consumers about the billions of dollars Verizon is investing in its 5G buildout," it told NAD. "Verizon strongly believes that consumers understand that this is the only message that is reasonably conveyed."

The National Advertising Division, an ad industry watchdog, has asked Comcast to modify ads where it implies that DirecTV satellite service is unreliable in bad weather and that the satellite giant offers no free shows or movies on the go.

NAD, which is administered by the Council of Better Business Bureaus, said Comcast is appealing and DirecTV is cross-appealing, certain NAD’s findings.

In the aforementioned ad, Comcast says that its Xfinity service, “delivers reliable TV service, rain or shine. So you can watch without worrying,” according to NAD. The advertisement next shows a picture of a DirecTV customer satellite dish with a rain cloud in the background. As lightning strikes the dish, causing it to shake, the voiceover states, “Whereas with DirecTV, but… you get the idea.” The ad concludes with a small super that says, “Severe weather (heavy rain or snow) may interfere with a satellite signal causing the picture to freeze or pixelate,” the ad watchdog said.

DirecTV argued that while the advertisement does not explicitly state that service interruption in severe weather is typical or a certainty and does not explicitly state that any such interruption will last for entire programs or an evening’s worth of television viewing, the advertisement strongly implies it.

Further, DirecTV contended that NAD in previous decisions has recommended modifications to similar weather-related reliability claims advertising claims made by Comcast.

Related: NAD Asks Comcast to Drop Unsupported Ad Claims 

Both companies have engaged in a back and forth marketing war for years -- in 2015, DirecTV ended a popular series of commercials featuring actor Rob Lowe that particularly offended Comcast. And last year Comcast pulled ads that were critical of DirecTV performance in bad weather. 

Comcast argued that the message in the most recently challenged advertisement is the same as that in a previously challenged “rain or shine” advertisement. Comcast maintained that because NAD has already found the “rain or shine” message substantiated, NAD should administratively close DirecTV’s challenge.

NAD noted in its decision that the challenged commercial differed from any of the advertisements in the cases cited by the parties and determined that the depiction of a DirecTV receiver struck by lightning conveyed several messages that NAD has found to be unsupported, including messages about the probability and duration of outages.

Following its review of the evidence in the record, NAD concluded that the messages reasonably conveyed by the advertisement relating to the length and duration of weather-related outages and their frequency were not supported by the record. NAD recommended that Comcast modify or discontinue the challenged commercial to avoid conveying the unsupported message that DirecTV is highly unreliable in bad weather. NAD also recommended that the advertiser modify its advertising to avoid conveying the message that DirecTV offers no free shows or movies on the go.

NAD concluded that the advertiser had not claimed to offer 70,000 free shows and movies on the go with its introductory package and recommended no changes to that portion of the advertisement. DirecTV said it would cross-appeal that finding.

Comcast, in its advertiser’s statement, said it will appeal NAD’s adverse findings.

“Comcast believes that the challenged commercial conveys the truthful message that DirecTV’s television service is comparatively unreliable in bad weather (due to limitations in satellite technology),” the company said.

In response to a challenge posed by the parent company of Cablevision Systems, the National Advertising Division said it has determined that Verizon Communications has “provided a reasonable basis” for TV ads claiming that FiOS Quantum TV subs can do things like record up to 12 shows at once, watch TV “on the go,” store up to 200 hours of HD and watch recordings in other rooms.

The NAB said Cablevision contended that TV ads from Verizon entitled “Why Not?” that feature comedian Craig Robinson made false and misleading comparisons between Verizon’s FiOS TV and the MSO’s Optimum TV platform. In the ad (watch a 30-second version here), Robinson tells his young nephew that his provider “can’t” record a certain number of shows at one time, save “every single cartoon,” and pause what he’s watching in one room and resume it in another room.

FiOS Quantum TV is Verizon’s new top-end video platform. Introduced last April, FiOS Quantum TV is anchored by the Arris-made Verizon Media Server, a whole-home DVR with six tuners and 1 terabyte of DVR storage that can be paired up with client devices on the home network. The Premium version of FiOS Quantum TV ties together the functions of two VMSs, giving customers access to 12 tuners and enough storage to record 200 hours of HD video, according to Verizon. The Premium-level set-up allows customers to watch or record up to ten shows at once. The Enhanced FiOS Quantum TV tier uses just one VMS. FiOS Quantum TV is matching up with Cablevision’s Multi-Room DVR, a network-based offering that, following an upgrade last April, is now capable of recording up to 15 shows at the same time.

The NAD held that the issue in this case was whether the net impression of the challenged commercials, taken as a whole, reasonably conveyed, as Cablevision argued, a comparative superiority message regarding the DVR service offered by FiOS Quantum TV and providers of other DVR or related services such as Cablevision.

“With respect to the 30-second commercial, NAD determined that consumers were unlikely to take away a comparative superiority message that Verizon offers features that other DVR service providers or DVR providers cannot provide,” the NAD said, but recommended that  Verizon discontinue the “reasonably conveyed (but inaccurate) message that with FiOS Quantum TV DVR service a subscriber can ‘save every cartoon’.”

For its part, Verizon stated to the NAD that it “respectfully disagrees” that humorous statements made by Robinson “would communicate anything about Cablevision's services,” or that any reasonable consumer would take the cartoon-recording claim literally, but said it would consider the NAD’s recommendations in future ads. 

Update: Cablevision issued this statement: “Verizon has not been truthful to consumers in its advertisements, and Cablevision is gratified that the NAD recommended that Verizon discontinue its latest false and misleading claims. Cablevision’s DVR product records 15 shows simultaneously, which is more than Verizon’s DVR product, and it was wrong for Verizon to claim otherwise in its ads. In addition, Cablevision is pleased that the NAD has recommended that Verizon discontinue certain claims that overstate their DVR product capabilities.”

Administered by the Council of Better Business Bureaus, the NAD is an investigative unit of the advertising industry’s system of self-regulation.