Verizon, Cablevision Settle Suit Over Internet-Speed Ads

Verizon Communications, the second-biggest U.S. phone company, and Cablevision Systems settled a lawsuit over ads that Cablevision claimed misrepresented its Internet speeds.

Cablevision, the fifth-largest U.S. cable-television provider by subscribers, sued Dec. 6 claiming Verizon was using outdated information. The ads ran their course Dec. 17 and Verizon will have new ads sometime in the future, company spokesman William Kula said. “Cablevision and Verizon have reached an agreement to resolve the dispute without further need for litigation,” Kula and James Maiella, a Cablevision spokesman, said. They declined to disclose terms of the settlement. A hearing had been scheduled for Dec 19 before U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert in Central Islip, New York, on Cablevision’s request to force New York-based Verizon to pull the ads. The TV, radio, direct-mail and Internet spots running in the New York area claimed that a “just released” Federal Communications Commission study shows Bethpage, New York-based Cablevision delivers at most 59 percent of its advertised speeds during peak hours, according to the complaint. The FCC report from August referred to tests performed in March, and Cablevision said it has upgraded its system since then. On Dec. 5, the FCC said in a blog post that Cablevision’s results in the report were outdated and its performance had improved.